Ataru 10
by brown phantom
Summary: It's the most powerful device in the whole galaxy. A bridge between worlds, or a weapon of war. And now it's in the hands of Ataru Moroboshi. Earth might not be ready for this kind of hero. Modern Day Setting.
1. Chapter 1

It was a quiet night, and despite the fact this was a town not that far away from Tokyo that was not unexpected. This district usually did had quiet nights on a regular basis, the loudest noises coming from the many stray cats roaming around.

"I'm glad things are back to normal." A teen boy said while sitting on his personal balcony, leaning against the walls and looking up at the stars, knowing he and the rest of the world could never look at them the same way again.

There had been many theories and stories about life on other planets in the past, virtually none of which really made a difference in everyday life beyond giving someone something to think about. And just two weeks ago, genuine extraterrestrials had made themselves known to the whole of earth. It was no hoax, no conspiracy theory, no mass delusion, it was real.

And their purpose for coming and telling the entire world about it?

They came to conquer.

And he, Ataru Moroboshi, was selected as the one and only human being who could have stopped them.

For ten days Ataru was tested, with the fate of his culture, species, and planet hinging on his success. And it was only thru sheer luck and some dirty tactics that he managed to succeed just in time. After that, the aliens just left. Good sports if nothing else they were, apparently.

Despite the normality, Ataru could not relax. That was understandable, he had been forced into a situation where absurd barely scratched the surface to him, and despite his victory he was overly ignored. Some people cheered and partied, but the next morning it was like everyone had forgotten his role.

"When people say you get fifteen minutes of fame, I didn't think it was so literal."

In his eyes he had a right to be upset. No one else had done anything, the whole of earth had let him take the burden of their survival without anyone else even entertaining the idea of taking his place or assisting him. Hell, the closest he got to help was his good friend Shinobu Mayake promising to do something for him if he won. And once he won, she took it back, using loopholes, technicalities, pretty much trying to void her own deal. Which basically told the teen boy she probably never intended to keep her word anyway.

Thinking about that left a bad taste in his mouth, so Ataru tried to think of something else. "What was the deal with this whole invasion anyway? Aliens show up to conquer earth but they give us a chance to defend ourselves? By challenging us to a game of tag? And they choose me out of everyone on earth to play the game? And they neither bother telling me ahead of time that their player can fly? And this isn't considered an unfair advantage? And when I actually win, the aliens just leave? Just like that? They came all this way with warships just to leave once a teen boy touched the horns of a girl? And why didn't earth try fighting them during the ten days I played the stupid game? In fact, why did the governments of the world agree to the game in the first place?"

This apparently didn't make him feel any better than thinking about Shinobu's deception had. Probably the one thing making him feel better was the fact that annoying but hot alien girl Lum whom he had been forced to chase down in the game was gone. As if her cheating ability to fly wasn't bad enough, she apparently could use lightning too, as evidenced when she hugged him. Evidently using lightning in the game was an unfair advantage but flying was fair game.

The sound of his doorbell was heard, snapping Ataru out of his thoughts. "Who'd come here?" He asked, getting up. "Maybe it's Ken, I could use some decent company. Or better yet, Shinobu ready to stop evading me."

He went to the door and opened it, seeing the less-than-welcome face of his classmate Kakugari. "Yeah?" Ataru greeted.

Right away Kakugari lunged as if to tackle him, and thanks to his bulk and surprise tactic he succeeded, holding Ataru and pinning him to the floor. "I got him!" He shouted to someone outside Ataru couldn't see.

Right away three more of his classmates came in. Megane, Perm, and Chibi, and they brought in rope and were certainly quick to tie up Ataru, right in his own house nonetheless.

"What the hell is the deal here!" Ataru asked. Apparently no one had thought to bring a gag.

"It's simple Ataru. We want you to bring Lum back to earth." Megane said, holding up a picture of the alien girl he clearly printed off the internet. You could tell by how the girl in the image was clearly posing like a pornographic model.

"Are you guys crazy! Why would you want that? Don't you remember what she tried to do to us?" Ataru yelled.

"It doesn't matter. We never got to meet her and that's just wrong." Megane answered.

"You guys seriously have nothing better to do tonight?" Ataru asked. "Pathetic."

One thing that was incredibly unfair to him was that Lum, the one who _wanted_ Earth to be invaded, had gained more popularity than he had, the one who persevered to save every ungrateful meatbag on this planet. Fanclubs had been made and within hours of her showing up on tv she had become a sexual icon on the internet. Granted Ataru could see why, given her attire and tremendous sex appeal that even he had fallen for briefly, but still! He was the hero and she was the villain! He knew life wasn't fair but if life could get away with being _this_ unfair then what was the purpose of karma?

"She came to you once, she'll do it again. So why did she come to you?" Perm asked.

"I was chosen completely at random." Ataru insisted. 'Is that bad luck demon Shinobu accidentally summoned with the mirrors still around? That might explain this crazy situation.'

"She will come back for you. After all, you bewitched her into loving you." Megane hissed, and all four uninvited guests glared at their captive.

Ataru frowned, knowing what the glasses-wearing goon was referring to. Shinobu's method of encouraging Ataru to win was agreeing to marry him if he did, or in short making it okay for them to have sex without hassle from their families over it. It worked, but when Ataru expressed joy over the terms of winning Lum happened to hear and misinterpret, assuming he was actually proposing to her instead. And by some kind of crazy form of illogical logic, she had actually agreed to it. Of course, before anything could happen Lum had to leave with the rest of her race and was forbidden from taking any earthlings with her lest the onis violate the agreement, but she promised to come back some day very soon under perfectly legit terms. And knowing earth's recent actions, no one would stop her.

"Let's call it a cultural misunderstanding." Ataru attempted.

"Either way, she intends to come back someday to you. And if we control where you are, she's bound to come to us first." Megane reasoned.

Lights outside started getting brighter, and the sound of a vehicle was heard overhead.

"Looks like that happened a little sooner than expected." Chibi noted.

'This can't be.' Ataru worried.

Megane quickly opened the door and went outside, followed by the others except Ataru. Above the house they saw a yellow UFO and smiled. "She's back! She's back!" They all cheered.

A beam of light appeared and from it emerged a green-haired beauty in a tiger fur bikini. But she did not look as happy to be here as they had anticipated. Also she was carrying what looked like a black ball the size of a soccer ball.

"Lum! You came to us!" Megane shouted happily, rushing to her as if to hug her.

Immediately she jumped over him and flew into the Moroboshi house, not seeing the four boys at all. "Darling! It's me! I need your-" She started, speaking like she was trying to catch her breath, only to stop when she saw him struggling to stand up while tied up. "Who did this to you?"

'Might as well get some revenge.' Ataru thought. "The four guys outside did this to me because they hate me."

Lum frowned and looked outside, seeing the four aforementioned guys in the doorway. "You did this to my Darling?"

"We had to be sure you'd come to us. Now Lum-" Megane started.

Lum pointed at them. "Suffer!" She shot lightning at all of them, and they were blown clear out of the Moroboshi property. The neighbors weren't going to be happy though. And neither were Ataru's parents considering the door frame could a few singe marks on it.

Once done Lum collapsed on her hands and knees, dropping the ball and letting it roll while she struggled again to breathe normally.

"Lum?" Ataru asked, and while he barely liked the girl he could tell she was not well and Ataru was definitely not heartless to women.

"Darling, I'm in trouble. I need your help." She managed to ask while panting.

Ataru frowned. "After everything you did, you expect me to just help you with something? No freaking way!"

"You need to. Your life is in danger too."

"Too?" Ataru asked.

"Yes, you see, more was going on in the invasion plan then you knew. And apparently there were things I didn't know either. I... I..." She phased out and fully collapsed. "I'm so tired." She managed to get out before passing out.

'Great, now what do I do?' Ataru asked himself, hoping the answer wouldn't be what he knew it was.

With no other choice, he did the only thing he could do. He got himself free of the ropes by chewing his way out, then getting the alien girl onto the couch so she could be comfortable.

"You better be grateful you little cheater. If I was a worse person I could put you outside or even have my way with you right now." He said to her even though he knew she couldn't hear him. He then glanced to the black ball she brought with her and lightly kicked it away. "And what did you bring this time?"

A sound he could only describe as small gears moving, and a small green glowing strip appeared on the top and around the sides, and the sides pulled apart. The ball was opening up and glowing inside.

Ataru panicked. "What is this? Oh this better not be some kind of probe."

Once open the glow subsided and the teen could look inside. He saw nothing dangerous, rather he saw something that looked rather harmless. A small black device shaped like a cylinder with a circular screen on the center that sported a green hourglass symbol. Four grey wires were on it too, forming a sort of X shape, and between two wires there was a small green circle that greatly resembled a button.

"Doesn't look like a probe." He said to himself, leaning closer to get a better look.

As if sensing his presence, the device beeped and, thru means he could not explain, jumped out at him, specifically aiming for his arm. Faster than his reflexes, the device opened up and latched onto his left forearm, and a feeling of suction was felt on his skin, as if the thing was more than just being worn. It was attaching itself to him.

"Get it off! Get it off!" He yelled, waving his arm as if to shake it off then trying to pry it off with his own fingers. Neither of which worked at all. He went into the kitchen and got a small spatula from a drawer, trying to pry the device off. It still would not bulge. "Lum! Wake up and get your freaky alien watch off me now!"

The alien girl only slept.

Groaning, Ataru leaned against a wall and looked at the thing. "Great, knowing her this is some kind of tracking device." He tapped the button and to his surprise the screen lifted up, creating a turnable knob. "Okay, this seems like more than just a tracking device. What does it do?"

The hourglass screen shifted, turning into a green diamond with a black silhouette of a humanoid figure appeared. "Weird." He said, turning the rim a bit. The silhouette changed into what looked like a four-legged animal. "Still weird." He turned it again and saw something that looked like a dinosaur. "What's the point of this? I see strange things and then what?" He tapped the screen and it did nothing, and in frustration pushed down on it, and this time it responded.

A click sound was heard and the next thing Ataru knew the skin around his left hand was bulging in a sickly manner, and it was spreading swiftly to the rest of his body. He felt his body changing against his will, responding to a force he could only describe as alien, briefly forcing him to close his eyes. And just as quickly as it came, it was over.

What the heck happened to me?" He asked. "My voice. This isn't my voice." His voice sounded raspier, like a lizard might if it could talk. He looked at his hands, and saw he had three claw-like fingers on each hand, which were now black while his arms were a dark cyan blue. And he could see spines sticking out of his elbows.

"I need a mirror." He said then tried to rush up to the restroom upstairs. He went fast, much faster than he was ready for, and tripped on the stairs. "That... was not fun." He moaned, then got up. He looked at his feet and saw they were reptilian too, but they ended with wheels. "Wheels? What creature could possibly have wheels for feet?" He saw a tail too, black with blue stripes. "Okay, so I look like a dinosaur on wheels now. What's the point?"

An idea came to him. "Hmm... maybe I can give those idiots a surprise."

He went outside, again going faster than anticipated and nearly ran into the wall around his yard. On reflex he turned and skidded to a stop.

"Wow, this body is fast. Really fast." He said to himself, then grinned. "Let's see how fast." Crouching his legs, he got ready like a track start might, then took off, rushing out in a dark blur that could barely be seen in the night.

'This is awesome!' He thought as he kept running in the streets. Apparently his vision worked to help him see while moving, as he had no tunnel vision and could see ahead of him far enough to know what he would otherwise run into. Also a visor appeared out of nowhere to cover his face, suggesting he was wearing a helmet of sorts. Now that he thought about it, that might explain the details of his eyesight now.

Up ahead he saw something he was glad to see. 'A bunch of girls in skirts. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I'm too fast and they wouldn't recognize me anyway.' His mind made up, Ataru increased the speed and ran right past them, close enough to use the air moved up by him to blow up their skirts and give him a glimpse of their panties.

'Nice, but over way too quickly. Oh well, not like I can only do it just once.' He said before turning down a different street to circle around and do it again. This time however, he made the mistake of stopping to look at the results longer.

"It's another alien!" One of the women yelled when they saw the blue-black raptor stand and look at them.

'I could try to convince them not to be afraid, or I could run before they try anything.' He thought. 'Running seems the more effective idea.' With that he simply fled from the scene, no idea where he was going just getting away from there.

He ran endlessly, and at some point no longer recognized where he was. "Okay, maybe I ran a little too far." He stopped and got a better look at his surroundings, which were nothing but trees and a pathless grass-covered ground. "Please tell me I ended up in Tomobiki Park." There was no one around to answer him. "Great, all the speed in the world and no sense of direction. I could be outside Tokyo or even Kanto for all I know. Oh well, I'm sure I can-"

A repeated beeping sound cut him off, coming from his chest, and after a few beeps he failed to count, everything went white for a moment and Ataru was back to his ordinary human self.

"Well, I'm glad I'm normal again, but now what do I do?" He lamented, checking the screen for answers only to see the hourglass was now red. "Lum!"

* * *

><p>Back in the Moroboshi house, the oni girl was starting to wake up. "Ugh... what a day." She moaned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes then looked around, still looking really tired. "Darling?"<p>

She did not see him. But she did see the black ball was open and empty. That shocked her more awake. "Oh no. Where is it?" She quickly flew around, checking every corner of the lower level of the house on an adrenaline rush, and got no sign of the device or the human resident. "Darling? Darling?!"

Fearing the worse she flew into her spaceship and went to the main computer of it. "Where is Darling? Where did he go?"

"Please be more specific." The computer requested.

"Darling, AKA Ataru Moroboshi, was last seen inside the building below us. Has anyone left the premises before me?" Lum asked, getting annoyed.

"Visual records show four humans being forcefully ejected from the building, and a Kineceleran exiting the building at a quick pace before you departed." The computer responded.

Lum put her hand on her forehead. 'He did it, Darling's got the omnitrix.' "Track him down. Surely you can do that."

"Why not simply call him on those portal devices humans call cell phones?" The computer asked.

Lum blinked then smiled. "Good idea. Look into public human records to find the number to reach him."

"Is that permitted by earth laws?" The computer asked.

"It is if you use that thing they call Google to do it." Lum answered.

* * *

><p>"C'mon, answer dammit!" Ataru stressed as he dialed a number on his phone.<p>

"Hello?" A male voice asked.

"Ken, I need help buddy. I'm stranded somewhere and you're the only one I know who has a car. Can you pick me up?"

"I guess. Where are you?"

"That's just it, I don't really know." Ataru admitted.

The other end was quiet for a moment. "You don't know where you are? Ataru, you're not blind. How hard can it be to locate something around you?"

"I'm in what I'm hoping is a park right now, only I'm not sure it's in Tomobiki." Ataru added.

"You're not even in Tomobiki? Dude, how did you get there to begin with?" Ken asked.

"I jogged."

"You jogged?" Ken asked, skeptical.

"Can you come get me or not?" Ataru asked.

Ken sighed. "I suppose I can, but if it's far you owe me gas money. Just find out exactly where you are then call me back."

"Thanks Ken." Ataru said then hung up, putting his phone in his pocket.

Walking thru the park, or at least he hoped it was a park, Ataru looked back at the device by his wrist. "Okay, so it looks like a watch but it allows someone to shapeshift. And judging from the icons, into more than just one thing. So was that an alien I turned into? Lum was bringing me something that could turn me into an alien? Was this some kind of dowry to her?"

He thought it over a bit. "But she did look really tired when she showed up. That lightning blast while strong looked weaker than the ones I saw her use after that race. She almost looked like she was escaping from something. So why come here? And why specifically bring this with her into my house?"

His phone started ringing. 'Must be Ken again.' He immediately thought then pulled his phone out and clicked to answer the call. "Hello?"

"Darling? Is that you?"

He froze and almost dropped the phone. "Lum? How did you get this number?"

"I looked it up. Listen, you don't happen to have something attached to you, do you?" She asked.

"You mean a watch that changes me into aliens instead of telling time? No, nothing like that." He answer sarcastically.

"Listen Darling, you need to be careful with this thing. I'll be happy to tell you more, just tell me where you are." She asked.

'Well, a spaceship would be quicker than a car, and I wouldn't have to pay for gas, I hope.' He thought. "Fine, but I don't know where I am. Can't you track the watch or something."

"Sorry, any tracking function the device had was disabled to make pursuers have a harder time finding it. I could probably track your phone, but that might take a moment since my technology has a hard enough time recognizing yours."

"Well better hurry up. I don't want to be out here all night."

"No you don't, since some things followed me here to this planet for that thing."

Ataru practically jumped. "NOW YOU TELL ME?!"

He had to stop his rant when he saw a red dot on his body, one very characteristic of a sniper taking aim from what he'd seen in movies.

Right away he ducked to the ground, and a laser passed over him. "LUM! I'M BEING ATTACKED!"

"I'm on my way Darling! I will find you!" She said just as desperately. "Just don't hang up!"

Ataru looked up and saw a hovering machine come to him. It looked damaged but deadly, like it had crashed but hadn't broken. And it wasn't alone, it was accompanied by similarly damaged machines. And each was now pointing their red dots right at his left wrist.

"Lum, those things you said were following you, I think they found me." Ataru said into his phone.

"It's okay, I think I found you too. Don't worry, they won't risk damaging the omnitrix. Just..." She trailed off.

The red dots moved to Ataru's forehead. "But the rest of me is perfectly fine to damage." He groaned, and saw the screen was green again. Right away he pushed the button and got the first step working. "Please let there be something on here that's laserproof." He pressed before he could see what the silhouette was and changed.

Green spikes immediately emerged around his arm and spread everywhere, like some kind of alien hedgehog. The spikes got thicker and blended together, becoming more like armor than quills, and engulfed his entire body. It even felt like the change was internal, like his organs were becoming solid materials and fusing with the rest of him.

Seeing the change the robots fired, but to Ataru's relief his new body was indeed laserproof. They deflected off his chest since he was now taller and pierced some trees. Ataru glanced at his hands and saw they were made out of a shiny light green mineral.

"Wow, I'm made of diamonds. I think." He clenched a fist and it morphed into a sharp spike. "And I can shape my own body. Oh this should be fun."

The robots fired again, and Ataru charged in, unaffected by the lasers, and swung his sharp spike like a sword at one of them. He made contact and sliced the machine in half. "Hah! You guys are scrap compared to me!"

The hovering robots pulled back and looked like they were fleeing. Grinning, Ataru gave chase, deciding to have more fun. The robots stopped in an open area, specifically a street where a lot of people could see them and panicked, not seeing the walking gemstone golem just yet. The robots then moved into specific positions and moved their parts around, until they all combined into a damaged and incomplete bigger robot. One that stood like a tripod, had one arm but likely was missing the other, and a head that looked similar to an insect.

"Oh, just my luck." Ataru said. People were screaming and running, and a few actually threw things at the robot. Only for it to start shooting at them and blowing things up. Ataru got infuriated at seeing it target innocents too just because they were there. "Okay, now I'm mad."

A little boy screamed, and Ataru did what most decent people would do. When the robot tried to shoot the kid, Ataru got in the way and used his arm as a shield, stopping the laser. His arm was undamaged but it looked a little burnt, telling him he wasn't completely invulnerable in this form.

"Who... are you?" The kid asked. "Are you with the Super Sentai?"

"Run to your parents kid. I've got this." Ataru told the boy, who nodded and fled. People could see Ataru standing up to the robot and watched from a distance, many recording this on their cameras.

The mechanical beast shot at the morphed teen again, and this time Ataru jumped away. It fired again as soon as he landed, making jumping again difficult, thus he was more blown away. He landed on his back and the robot jumped on top of him, pinning him down.

'Okay it doesn't have to kill me now, just wait for this thing to time out _then_ it can kill me.' Ataru noted. Unable to free his arms, Ataru tested to see if he could make his whole body sharper. The result was growing spines everywhere like some kind of crystal sea urchin, which pierced thru the metal.

The robot stepped away, trying to preserve what was left of it's integrity, allowing its captive to stand again. The machine's one hand morphed it into a spinning claw, like it intended to drill into the diamond creature. Not wanting to chance it, Ataru made both arms sharp and swung at it. The two collided and both limbs broke apart, but Ataru felt no pain.

"I better still have both hands when I go back to normal." He said to himself, and as if commanded his diamond hands regrew. "Oh, that makes this better."

"Take him down diamond-headed guy!" The same boy cheered.

"Diamond-headed guy?" Ataru repeated, blocking a punch from the robot. "Would it have killed you to be a little more creative?"

A compartment opened on the robot's chest and the head of a missile poked out. "Oh you got to be kidding me!" The transformed teen complained. He thrust his arm at the missile, hoping to damage it before it fired, and to his surprise rather than extend his arm shot projectiles in the form of shards. The shards hit the missile and it started to shake, like it was going to explode before launching.

"Everybody run!" Ataru shouted to those still around, and they did so, some of them still trying to get this on their phones. Ataru himself backed away too.

The robot exploded with a lot of force, but luckily no one was hurt by it. The same couldn't be said for the road or nearby buildings, but they could be repaired.

"Well, glad that's done." Ataru said to himself.

All around him people were cheering for him like he was a hero. He had to admit it felt nice, even if everyone was calling him Diamondhead now instead of 'diamond-headed guy'. He waved and took in the praise.

Then Lum's UFO appeared, and not a moment too soon as the hourglass crest on his chest was starting to beep again. She seemed to recognize him despite his new appearance and beamed him up, just before he was exposed as a human.

Ataru was normal again inside her spaceship. "Lum, what did you bring to my house?" He demanded.

"It's a long story Darling, but it's one you need to know now."


	2. Chapter 2

Lum decided to park her UFO in the mountains away from any major city, since there was a good chance people would not react well her to being close by. She hadn't said another word to Ataru, just reassuring him everything would make sense when she had time to tell him everything.

When everything was done, Lum sat in front of Ataru. "Darling, that device on your wrist, it was never supposed to bond with you. And now that it has, I don't know how to take it off."

"You can't take this off?" Ataru asked. "Well, considering what it does I'm not sure I'd want you to. Unless it can do something like make me explode."

"I think there might be a self-destruct function on it." Lum pointed out, making Ataru panic. "Oh wait, that doesn't really help here."

"You think?!"

"Relax, it's not going to do anything like that anything soon unless you damage it." The oni girl reassured. "What should I tell you first? What the device is and does, or why I brought it here?"

Ataru thought it over. "What it is. That should help the other part make more sense."

"Alright." Lum replied with a nod. "For starters, it is called the omnitrix, and from what I'm told it's one of the most powerful inventions in the entire galaxy."

Ataru raised an eyebrow. "Powerful in what context?"

Lum adverted her eyes in thought. "I'm not sure. I just know what it does, not what makes it powerful."

"Gee, don't you sound smart." Ataru remarked.

Lum huffed. "You know what a battery does but do you know how exactly it does it?" At Ataru's defeated sheepish look she smiled. "I thought so. Anyway, the omnitrix is a full body cellular and genetic reconstructer. It can alter the very being and sometimes even the mental capabilities of the one who possesses it to allow them to temporarily have the body and abilities of another life form. Basically, it transforms you into other aliens for a temporary amount of time."

"That's cool. How many can I become?"

"I'm not sure on that either, but last time I checked, the current available limit is ten. There should be more options saved inside like files, but for now only ten are available."

"And let me guess, you're not sure why for that either?" Ataru asked, and Lum nodded. "So why did you have it? And why weren't you wearing it?"

"It wasn't meant for me. I was delivering it to someone on this planet." She told him, and paused to take a breath. "Perhaps this will help you understand. When you and I were racing, the rest of the oni were busy doing something else on this planet. In fact, you and I were in fact just a distraction for this."

"A distraction?" Ataru repeated, the got angry. "You used me as a distraction?!"

"Not me, I was used too. I was selected because it was believed my appearance was most appealing to your culture thus I'd be the one oni who'd hold the media's attention. I was ordered to let you win had you not been able to get me on your own on the tenth day."

"Wait, _let_ me win?" Ataru repeated, confused. "Lum, I've had a funny feeling about this game of tag ever since it started. Now you're telling me it was basically just a ruse?"

"Sort of. You see, it all started on Uru, my home planet. A being named Azmuth who belonged to the Galvan race of Galvan Prime was seeking sanctuary on our world to do some work in peace. He was rather private but his work was of no danger to anyone, and after a while he created the omnitrix you are now wearing."

"Did he say why?" Ataru asked.

"He said... it was to apologize for something." Lum answered.

Ataru didn't like the sound of that. "What was he apologizing for?"

"I heard someone misused one of his inventions and caused a lot of trouble with it, and he blamed himself for it. He came to Uru to create something to fix the problem and he didn't want others to get their hands on it before he decided who would help him use it. But it didn't work out so well. Somehow word got out about what Azmuth was doing and another alien came to Uru demanding Azmuth hand over the omnitrix. Our armies fought them off long enough to head to earth so Azmuth could get sanctuary again, but that wasn't as easy to get here."

"No doubt, Earth's never seen aliens before." Ataru commented.

The oni girl shook her head. "Not true, Earth's interacted with other worlds many times. We weren't the first race to appear to yours. Not by a long shot."

That certainly shocked the teen boy. "Really?" Lum nodded. "Then why is it only now the world's being aware of it?"

"There's an organization on your world that's meant to deal with extraterrestrial affairs on behalf of the planet. They're called Plumbers I think. Anyway, we approached them and they were happy to help grant Azmuth asylum, but they had another idea. They thought since they couldn't hide alien existence from the general public for much longer that rather than wait until such a revelation was unavoidable to 'stage' a revelation."

"You mean the whole threat of invasion was faked?" Ataru asked.

"Isn't it obvious? I mean, what advanced race in any galaxy would try to conquer a planet using a game of tag?" Lum shrugged and shook her head. "'Win and we go away in peace, lose and you hand over your planet to us'? Who in their right mind would use that as a battle strategy? I mean, even the Shyamalites would do better than that and they have trouble with wooden doors."

"So if I'm getting this right, your race revealed itself to the world so some other species wouldn't do it first and cause a major panic. The whole tag thing was a way to calm the panic before it could get bad, and if you were supposed to lose then it would allow earth to feel like it was safe from invasion for the time being." Ataru thought out loud. "And the ten days we were competing were the days needed to hide this Azmuth guy."

Lum nodded. "I knew you weren't a dumb human, despite what my dad said."

"So now why did you come back if your job was done?" Ataru asked.

"Here's something I'm not really proud of. You see, we brought Azmuth to Earth and left him in a place neither oni nor human know about and went home to Uru, to fight off the threat to him and keep him from coming to Earth. But when we got there, some of our soldiers revealed that a mistake had been made. Azmuth left the omnitrix on Uru."

Ataru looked skeptical. "He went into hiding to build this thing?" He raised his left arm to indicate it. "And he left it behind? Doesn't that strike you as just a little bit fishy?"

Lum nodded. "Very much so. My dad thought so too. But we couldn't risk it being a mistake or a trap, so the only option we had was bring it to Earth and give it to Azmuth, even though no one's supposed to know where he is. And I being the one oni deemed nonthreatening to Earth was chosen to deliver it. Not a perfect plan by far, but it was the only one we had. And it went wrong really quickly."

"Went wrong?" Ataru asked.

"Yes, the being who tried to take the omnitrix when it was on Uru followed me. I had some security but the battle was terrible. I don't know if anyone got out alive, but they did manage to damage the enemy ship and keep them away from earth." Lum continued, looking and sounding mournful at the thought of others dying to protect her. "Those robots you saw, I think they were scouts sent after me that were lucky enough to do so."

"Not lucky enough, they looked pretty damaged to me." The teen boy pointed out.

"I had to do some evasive maneuvers in my own ship and fight too, and it lasted for what felt like hours. I nearly got killed and I don't even know how I survived. I had to make an emergency landing, and the only place I could think of was your home. Plus, I wanted to see you again."

"Lum, I wasn't asking you to marry me. It was a mistake." Ataru clarified, not wanting her to bring it up.

"And is the girl you thought would marry you agreeing to it?" Lum asked back.

"She's... waiting for the right time." Ataru said.

Lum clearly did not believe that. "If you asked me we'd be married right away. Maybe not legally by this planet's customs but enough that we could get away with consummating the union."

The image of them consummating did flash in Ataru's mind, but it was squashed by all the annoyance he had felt about the tag race, bolstered by the annoyance of the aftermath and the news of the true nature of the challenge.

"But like you said, it can't happen even if I wanted it to. Besides, I like another girl."

"Let's avoid this subject for now." Lum suggested. "The thing is, I was supposed to take the omnitrix to its maker. You were never supposed to wear it. And I don't know how to take it off or find anyone who does. So until I do, you're stuck with it. And if you're caught with it, bad people from space or even Earth might try to kill you to get it for themselves."

"So I'm not supposed to use it?" Ataru asked. "No can do."

"Darling the omnitrix is not a toy!" Lum argued. "Don't you get it? Dangerous people from other worlds want that device and humans aren't exactly top species off their own world. Not to mention many humans would love to have it too if they knew what it could do."

"Well right now it's mine, and if I want to play I will." He said, activating the device and pressing the screen before Lum could stop him. His arm glowed rather simply and it spread over him, the only sensation he felt was the one of growing taller, but by a small amount. When it stopped and the glow faded, he barely felt changed at all. He looked at his hands and they were completely normal to him.

"What the hell? I didn't change at all." He complained.

"No Darling, you did. And I must say, I like this look a lot." Lum told him.

Ataru looked into one of the metal surfaces of the UFO interior to see his reflection. It was distorted, but he could see green hair, and looking at himself more he saw a full body tiger uniform. "Oh great, now I'm an oni-Ataru. An... Onitaru if you will."

"Onitaru. I like the sound of that. But I like the sound of 'Darling' more." Lum said cheerfully.

"Wait, this means I can fly and shoot lightning." Onitaru said to himself.

"Not necessarily. Some onis have different abilities than me, and some can't fly." Lum corrected.

"Well I'm going out to try it out." Onitaru said without care and rushed outside. Once out he tried jumping into the air, and to his joy he didn't come crashing down like a normal wingless being would do. "Awesome!" He shouted, flying thru the air via means he couldn't even start explaining to an earth scientist.

But he wasn't the only one who could fly. "Darling! Get back here!" Lum called out.

"No way Lum! In fact, this time _you_ have to catch _me_!" Onitaru jested, then took off, mentally laughing at the irony.

The oni girl did indeed chase him, and while she had experience in controlling her flight, Onitaru was a natural at escaping when he _really_ wanted to get away. And this time he had a weapon at his disposal.

"Let's see how much you like lightning!" Onitaru yelled, holding his hand out to Lum and mentally picturing a bolt striking her and knocking her out of the sky. Normally the idea of being responsible for physically hurting a woman appauled him, but she had carelessly electrocuted him already, plus she probably had at least some tolerance to the stuff even if not total immunity. To him, this was justified retaliation.

But there was no lightning. Not even a spark.

"Darling come back!" Lum yelled, catching up to him.

Not wanting her to succeed, Onitaru dove into the trees below and flew thru the forest, finding this a lot harder as he bumped into several branches and crashed. "Damn, how do birds do this?"

Lum landed right behind him. "Darling!"

Onitaru momentarily panicked and waved his arms as if to ward off the threat. That did nothing, but all of a sudden the ground right under Lum trembled and shot up like it was punching her from below. The shock sent her flying involuntarily for a bit.

"Whoa, what was that?" Onitaru asked, looking at the pillar. "No time to ask questions, she might come back." He decided to run this time, since he trusted his legs more.

As it turns out, his running speed was rather impressive. It was like he was so much lighter. But unfortunately it didn't last long. After what probably qualified as a good sprint, his legs cramped up and he had to kneel down, massaging them.

"Damn, what gives? I know I'm no athlete but I'm in decent shape. Though I admit maybe a jog or two now and then might help me out a little more." He complained, hovering a bit to take the weight off his legs. "Huh, maybe onis fly around so much their natural leg strength has weakened over evolution, making them almost require flight over land travel. Kind of like the reverse of what happened to the ostrich in evolution."

He looked around, trying to see where he was. "I'm nowhere near home that's for sure, and Ken sure can't pick me up from here. Maybe I can find something to show me the way to Tomobiki."

Flying but staying out of the trees and not above them where Lum could spot him, Onitaru went forward in hopes of finding any sort of clue. Part of him felt bad for how he was treating the girl, but frankly she had complicated his life with too much too soon and to his knowledge only wanted a solution that benefited her more than him. He rationalized this as 'I owe her nothing'.

After a bit the omnitrix crest on his chest, just over his heart to be more precise, started beeping. "Uh oh, better find somewhere to lay low until this thing recharges." He looked around and not too far he saw a cave in the side of the mountain he was still on. "That'll do." With a burst of speed he flew towards it as fast as he could, then timed out in mid-air and crashed and rolled on the ground, halting just in front of the cave mouth.

"Ouch." He groaned, hissing at the bruises and abrasions he surely got from that unorthodox landing. "I'm going to need more practice with this thing." Ignoring that for now, he made himself get into the cave, trying to go in enough that Lum couldn't spot him unless she actually landed in front of it to look inside.

The cave actually wasn't as deep inside as it looked from the outside, but what was really weird was the fact the back of it looked more like a brick wall with a steel door than a natural rock wall. And carvings were in the stone too, but he couldn't make them out in the dim lighting.

"Someone built something inside a mountain? Why?" He asked, then shrugged and knocked on the door. Right away small panels opened and pointed guns at him, with red dots appearing on his body in several spots.

"A simple 'Do Not Disturb' sign would have sufficed you know." Ataru commented, not knowing what else to do. 'Lum, if you can get me out of this, I will owe you one for once.'

* * *

><p>'Was that geomancy?' Lum asked herself, resuming the search for her subject of romantic interest at a slow but steady pace. 'What are the odds that Darling as an oni would have the second rarest power of my species? And be able to fly. I might be wrong, but geomancy onis shouldn't fly, should they?'<p>

Ignoring the questions she couldn't answer, Lum went back to her UFO, knowing this would aide her in her search. 'It's likely Darling has returned to normal form, so I should be able to find him by scanning for human life in the vicinity. If I don't find him that way, I can just search visually. I get the feeling he'll try another flying being again.'

Seated in her pilot chair at the controls, Lum got her vehicle into the air and typed into the computer basic commands. 'Search for humans within immediate area'. Small scanners went to work, ignoring the local flora and fauna to find a specific species.

'Lifeform detected'. The computer beeped, showing a map with a collection of red dots in a localized portion.

Lum blinked. 'There's a large cluster of humans in one area out here? Why? And is Darling with them?' She headed right to the area to get her answer. 'Darling, I'm sorry for getting you in trouble like this. Why can't anything go right today?'

-Flashback-

Red lights were flashing everyone, almost as if they were trying to be the only color Lum could see. That would have been better, since she just saw one of her escort ships get blown up by enemy fire. Lum could do nothing but scream in horror and dodge to avoid being hit herself.

"Get to the destination Agent Racer! We will hold off the enemy!" A transmission of her one remaining guard ship told her, firing back at a larger battle ship that looked like a set of clamps with red gems attached.

Lum grit her fangs. "Hell no! I'm not having more die while I just run!"

"Agent Racer no!" The transmission added, refusing to use Lum's real name in case the signal was being intercepted.

Ignoring the plea Lum turned around and headed to the enemy. Her UFO was designed for long term travel and residence rather than combat, the space equivalent of an recreational vehicle, but her father was part of the Urusian military so he made sure it had weapons equipped too. She got her guns out and started firing, hoping to get a good shot in.

One of her lasers hit one of the red gem-like features of the enemy ship, and it seemed to do some good damage. But the enemy ship retaliated, firing back. She dodged but her ship got grazed, losing one of the guns entirely and destroying one of the oxygen managers. Her air was going to be limited now.

"Agent Racer you're not equipped for battle! You're going to get yourself killed!" The transmission yelled.

"If I don't help you you'll be killed!" She yelled back, continuing to fire from what she hoped was the enemy's blindside.

"If you die then the deaths of the fallen will have been for nothing." The transmission added, taking some shots in themselves that were doing far more damage than her one laser was.

Lum resisted, but soon sighed. "Very well. I'll be headed for the last point I was at on this planet. Meet me there."

"Will do. Keep the cargo safe."

Cutting the line, Lum turned and flew as quick as she could to Japan. In front of her she saw some small combat droids flying at her and shooting, not damaging her thanks to the shield she had that was strong enough to resist lasers of that magnitude. Unfortunately she lost her last gun.

Just before she could get away she saw in one of the monitors that worked as a rearview mirror an explosion, and it wasn't the enemy ship doing it. she shed some tears and kept driving.

-End flashback-

"I will not lose Darling too. No more deaths because I brought the omnitrix to Earth." Lum vowed.

* * *

><p>"What is wrong with you people?" Ataru asked, struggling against his restraints. His hands were cuffed behind his back, preventing him from using the omnitrix without risking him breaking his wrists.<p>

The people who restrained him wore armor that looked like European knights, very out of place in Japan. But everyone there was Japanese, and they looked unhappy that Ataru had stumbled upon this secret location of theirs.

"State your business boy!" One of the knights ordered, holding the tip of a sword at his captive's neck.

"My business? I'm trying to get away from someone I don't want to be around. What's it to you?" Ataru replied.

"You did not come here by accident creature. We know you're an alien who found our base and thought taking on human form would deceive us." The sword-wielder accused.

Ataru raised an eyebrow. 'Okay, so somehow they saw me in that alien form and believe I'm faking human form. Maybe I can turn this around on them.' He smirked. "You act like you've got something to hide, and not just me but from everyone else too. Why else would you be out here instead of in the city?"

"What did you come here for boy?"

"You tell me. What's here worth coming to get?" Ataru asked back. The knight pulled back his sword and swung it, attempting to decapitate the teen. But luckily he caught it with his teeth. 'Okay, maybe that was a bad idea. New plan, get the heck out of here.' With that he tried to carefully get the omnitrix active behind his back, with no choice but to rely on luck for him turning into something he could use to escape.

A door opened and in walked another knight, this one wearing a golden mask to cover his face. "Onode, that was unwise."

The sword-wielder withdrew his weapon and kneeled in a stereotypical knight fashion. "My apologies Enoch-sama, but the creature is a threat."

"The creature as you put it is clearly human. Have you not noticed the device on the wrist?" The masked knight Enoch replied, speaking with an accent Ataru couldn't place but suspected was British.

"I did, but I thought that was how it was able to assume human form." The kneeling knight Onode answered.

"Not quite Onode, in fact it is the opposite. It's what allows a human to assume alien form." Enoch corrected.

'This guy knows about the watch.' Ataru realized as he felt the knob of the omnitrix pop up, and he carefully and slowly spun the dial. 'That doesn't sound like a good thing right now.'

Enoch looked right at the captive, his mask covering any expression with an unfriendly look of its own. "I thank you boy for bringing me the omnitrix. It saves my organization the hassle of having to find the creator himself."

'Okay, this guy doesn't know the inventor, but he planned on stealing the watch. And with me here having practically brought it to him, my only chance of getting out of this is the alien this thing makes me become.' Ataru thought. "Why should you have this thing? What are you going to do with it?"

"It is not for you to know. For the same reason you don't tell the vendor what you intend to do with your purchase." Enoch answered.

"Well there's a difference here. I'm not selling this watch." Ataru said before pressing the knob against the wall, activating the transformation sequence.

Ataru's arms started to bulge out like his veins were trying to escape his body, then it looked like his muscles were following them. His skin turned a sunburned pink almost making his growing upper body look inside-out, and the cuffs burst apart, freeing his arms and allowing him to spread them out. A weird feeling under his arms started and as soon as it appeared two new arms appeared right under his original arms. His legs muscled up as well, his hair receded and disappeared, his skin darkened to a cherry red, and two new eyes appeared above his original ones.

"Oh yeah! Now this is what I'm talking about!"

Onode backed away afraid, but Enoch showed no fear and unsheathed his sword. "You may have four arms but you're not invulnerable to steel."

Ataru pounding all his fists together. "Fourarms, I like the sound of that." He threw both right fists at the knight, but Enoch dodged with easy and tried to stab the red alien in the chest. One of Fourarms left arm adverted the strike but he did take a cut in the process.

"I am experienced in how I battle. You are completely new to these altered forms and rely purely on impulse and best guess to use them. You couldn't defeat me even if I fought with a-"

Enoch's speech was halted by Fourarms grabbing him with all hands and holsting the knight above his head.

"You talk too much." Fourarms boasted before throwing Enoch at Onode, both crashing into each other and the wall. Fourarms then pushed the wall and destroyed it before walking out, looking for his way back outside.

Alarms were blaring and armored footsteps were heard in the halls. Fortunately Ataru hadn't been blindfolded when the knights tied him up and took him inside their base, so Fourarms remembered the way out and ran like an angry bull. He quickly ran into a group of knights in one hall but he just charged right thru them.

"Oh I'm going to have a lot of fun with this watch. I just know it." He told himself, making a few turns.

The main entrance came into view, giving him his exit. He slammed against it with his shoulder and it resisted a bit but cracked under the pressure. Undaunted, Fourarms pulled back and tried again, this time succeeding in getting out. Once he was outside though, lasers started firing at him and a few hit.

Fourarms yelled in pain and fell on his knees. Some lasers were set to stun, and some to hurt. One of them had severed one of his extra hands, and he could feel his muscles convulsing as if the nerves were overloaded. And he could feel himself bleeding in some spots.

'Dammit, I'm not dying here.' Fourarms mentally swore, forcing his limbs to throw his own body outside the cave to the entrance, away from the lasers. He struggled to stand then struggled to walk, his body screaming in agony. "Those guys were really trying to kill me just then. What kind of people are they? Was this what Lum meant by people who'd try to take the watch from me?'

Walking outside, he was hit in the back of the head by a rock. It hurt and he rubbed the impact point, but it didn't knock him out. Turning around he saw more knights holding swords and one with an old fashioned slingshot.

"You will not escape us." Several of the knights said together.

Fourarms gritted his teeth, and just then Lum's UFO showed up overheard. A beam of light went over the area as if to check them out, stopping on Fourarms, making him smile. "You lose this time dorks." He taunted, then got beamed up into the ship that flew away, leaving the knights behind.

Inside, Fourarms allowed himself to collapse on the floor, wincing from his wounds.

"Darling! You're hurt!" Lum shrieked once she saw him, coming over to him right away.

"I'm fine." He claimed, like most males would in his place. The omnitrix crest signaled it was timing out, a bit sooner than he expected it to, and he returned to normal. In human form Ataru still was injured, with mild burns and laser wounds, but at least he wasn't missing a hand. Just a patch of skin under his armpit. "But I could use something to stop the bleeding."

Lum nodded and flew to get some basic first aid, designed specifically for oni but fortunately the bandages to stop bleeding would work on any species. "Lay down and take off your shirt." She told him when she came back. Ataru would normally have objected, but this was a professional request, not a personal one so he had no real reason to refuse.

Lum did her patchwork in silence for a bit, looking unhappy to see his wounds and occasionally glancing at the mechanism on his left arm. "Darling, we need to talk."

* * *

><p>"King Driscoll?"<p>

On a large monitor was the image of a heavily armored man, wearing white armor with a high collar and a helmet covering the entire face sporting three black horns, the center one longer than the other two, a red visor covering the eyes, and black shoulder pads. On the chest was a coat of arms featuring a shield under a crown and above crossed bones.

"Enoch, why are you calling me?"

"The omnitrix is on Earth, and is currently in the possession of a child." The golden masked knight explained.

"A child you say." Driscoll repeated, acknowledging what he had heard more than questioning it. "And you have not been able to identify this person yet have you?"

"Sadly no my liege. They seem to have more knowledge of how to use it than we anticipated and managed to get away. All I can confirm is it's a local male of high school age." Enoch confessed, sounding like he was expecting punishment.

"Then there is nothing to worry about." Driscoll replied. "Such a person is bound to be careless with the omnitrix and use it recklessly. The search for this person will barely require effort, so focus on taking them down more than locating them."

"And if this boy causes trouble until then? We cannot have him endangering others."

"It is impossible for a kingdom to experience zero casualties when a weapon is unleashed. Your duty is to catch the boy and retrieve the omnitrix, not prevent him from ever using it in the first place. If others suffer for his negligence, that is on his head, not yours Enoch."

"Understood your majesty."

* * *

><p>"Failure... unbelievable!" A raspy voice hissed in anger, while having difficulty breathing. It belonged to a humanoid creature with a head resembling an octopus, making them bear a rather striking similar to the iconic Cthulhu. Only this entity was gravely injured, missing half of their body and hooked up to life support inside a liquid-filled cylinder. "The Urusians... were better than I thought, but to render me in this state. Confined to a restoration tube, my whole body will need cyber enhancements now to stay alive. How many Urusians made it to the planet's surface?"<p>

"Data says only one Urusian ship managed to escape and land. All others were destroyed, their materials are being scavenged by droids to make repairs on this vessel easier." A robotic female voice answered.

"Tell me the omnitrix was recovered." The injured alien demanded.

"The omnitrix was located but not recovered. Search droids that were damaged but sufficiently functional followed the Urusian vehicle to the planet and located the omnitrix. It is currently in the possession of an unidentified being, presumably one of the Urusians delivering it." The computer responded.

"It will take time before myself or this ship can do anything directly to get the omnitrix. We cannot allow the Urusian to leave this planet. For now, try to keep tabs on the omnitrix, and work on ensuring it does not leave where the one utilizing it is."

"Understood Commander Vilgax."


	3. Chapter 3

In a cafe in Nerima people were sitting down having drinks and doing who knows what with their laptops. One of them was watching youtube as others looked over their shoulders.

"This is incredible."

"This is dangerous. Aliens are going to show up now and after we get rid on one more take its place. We should get armed, not take videos of these freaks."

"Freaks? They're not freaks they're just living creatures from other planets."

"This one is made out of diamonds. That's not natural. End of story."

At a counter drinking some soda a teen rolled his eyes. 'Figures some people watching that video of me as Diamondhead would get some critics too. Heh, Diamondhead, that's the best name the guy who posted the video could come up with for my crystal alien form? Granted Onitaru and Fourarms aren't exactly high on creativity but I can do better. In fact, I know I can.'

His phone started ringing, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Hello?" He said when he answered it.

"Darling! Where are you?!"

Ataru dropped his drink, spilling it all over the counter and a little on himself.

"Hey!" One of the cafe employees yelled. "You're cleaning that up kid!"

"Leave me alone!" Ataru said a bit too loudly, talking to his phone but the employee thought otherwise.

"Oh you're going to pull that kind of attitude on me now are you? Get the hell out of here!"

Ataru paid this no mind. "You're not my fiancee. You're not even my girlfriend. How did you get this number in the first place?" He was cut off by the employee grabbing his shirt.

"I said get lost!"

Ataru frowned and pushed the employee away. "Fine I'm going." He then walked out with a frown, ignoring the looks of everyone there, silently accusing him of causing a scene.

"Darling!" Lum yelled from the phone. "You can't run from this! You know I'm ri-" He hung up and pocketed his phone.

'Great, if she could get my number, and my address, then there's no real way for me to hide from her. And I get the feeling a restraining order isn't going to do me any good.' He thought as he walked thru the unfamiliar town, trying to be anywhere but Tomobiki right now.

He turned a corner, and by chance someone else was coming his way at the same time, bumping right into him. It was an adult woman with brown hair wearing a red blouse and black pants.

"Oh, sorry ma'am." Ataru said politely. The woman strangely just stood there, looking dazed and sounding like she was having a hard time breathing. "Umm... you okay?"

She knelt down, barely able to stand, grabbing his shoulders as she collapsed.

"What is it? What's the matter?" Ataru asked. Others watched, wondering the woman was hurt or if the boy was bothering her.

"My heart..." The woman wheezed. "When you bumped into me... the shock..." She looked at him, then looked horrified. "You're... go away. You'll only make this worse." She let go and backed away.

"What are you talking about?" Ataru asked.

"Hey, this guy's harassing a woman in broad daylight!" One of the passerby shouted, taking the woman's scooting away as a sign of fear.

"What?" Ataru asked.

"Hey look, it's that guy who had to race that alien chick last week!" One guy said.

"Yeah, didn't he only win because he ripped her clothes off in front of everyone?" A woman asked bitterly. "Now he's doing it again!"

'Would it kill people to thank me for saving the planet? Am I asking for too much?' Ataru asked himself.

"Get away from her!" People yelled, looking ready to force Ataru to get away from the ill woman. In fact, they looked more then ready, they looked more like they didn't want to do anything but use force on him.

"You are nothing but misfortune. You are beyond help, like myself." The ill woman accused.

Ataru frowned, glancing at his omnitrix. 'I could get rid of them, but then word will spread of me having this and I'll only be hated more. Guess I gotta handle this the human way.'

Apparently the human way was to grab the ill woman, hold her bridal style, and run off from the growing mob. They gave chase, but Ataru was rather good at running when he had to. In retrospect that might have been part of why he was chosen to be part of the tag race to begin with.

He came to a stop in an alley between two buildings, having lost his accusers, and put the ill woman down. She seemed to be breathing easier now. "Alright, now what was that about?" He demanded. "I was just being nice and you tell me to scram? What's wrong with you?"

"You're haunted by evil and bad luck. I can tell just by looking at your features. You're the embodiment of bad luck." She claimed.

"You sound just like this ugly short monk I saw."

The ill woman raised an eyebrow. "Ugly short monk? He wouldn't happen to have a sort of square squished face with big ears would he?"

"You know him?" Ataru asked.

"Sort of. I'm a miko at a Shinto shrine where he comes by all the time. Mostly to take our food." She claimed.

"A miko huh? Well, you do seem mysterious enough for that role." The teen boy commented.

"Shouldn't you be in school?" The ill woman asked, looking a bit nauseous now.

Ataru shrugged. "I needed to get away from home for the day. Too much trouble happening all at once."

The ill woman gagged and coughed, covering her mouth and leaning against the wall of the building. "It's your fate to be burdened with disaster and difficulty."

"Some fate. I want a refund." Ataru chided, reflecting on something that had happened a few days ago.

-Flashback-

"Moroboshi! This is a classroom! Not a brothel!" The homeroom teacher of Class 2-4 Onsen-Mark yelled, throwing an eraser at his most troublesome student, hitting him in the head. Why? Because Lum was trying to sit in his lap.

"Hey! I didn't bring her her! She invited herself!" Ataru defended on deaf ears.

"I told you that you need me around now. Besides, I've got nowhere else to go now." Lum remarked calmly, looking rather content in her seat.

Behind them Shinobu Miyake, Ataru's 'girlfriend' for lack of a better term, was crying and glaring. "You're doing this just to spite me aren't you?"

"I don't need to spite you." Lum told her.

"I wasn't talking to you!" Shinobu replied, making Ataru feel a jab.

"You're taking this out of context!" Ataru declared.

"You're a twisted scoundrel." Several girls in the class replied, crowding around Shinobu to support her.

"This is the girl who said she'd marry you if you won the game Darling?" Lum asked, giving Shinobu a disapproving look, like she was just some merchandise the oni didn't want to purchase. "The one who made a promise to you and rewards you by pretending it never existed? Maybe you _should_ be spiting her."

"You heartless alien bitch!" One of Shinobu's friend yelled.

Ataru arched an eyebrow. "Hmm... maybe you're right Lum."

"Glad you think so." She said, then before he could object she pulled him down for a kiss, surprising him as much as the rest of the class.

"Ataru! How dare you force yourself on Lum!" Megane accused.

"What the hell? Are your glasses just for show idiot?" Ataru asked, getting fed up with everyone automatically assuming he was the one causing the problem.

Right then he got hit in the back of the head with a desk. He turned and saw a very angry Shinobu, who grabbed another desk and no one, not even the teacher, looked the least bit interested in making her stop her physical assault.

But Lum was interested. She pointed at the earth girl and zapped her with a low dose. Shinobu shrieked and dropped the desk on herself.

"Lum how could you do that?" Ataru asked, bothered by this.

The oni girl looked at him with a frown. "For someone who says they wish others were more grateful, you're not exactly Mr. Thank You yourself you know."

Ataru was silenced, realizing she was right. She had helped him and he was being ungrateful, just like how the planet as a whole was ungrateful to him. What right did he have to complain when he was no better?

Before he could say anything, the majority of the class started to attack Ataru. Why? Because they could and they wanted to hurt someone that's why.

-End Flashback-

Ataru sighed. 'And she followed me home too, still trying to push her ultimatum on me. But maybe I overreacted.'

The ill woman winced. "Ow, my heart."

"Want me to take a look?" Ataru offered.

"No, just take me to my shrine if you feel you must do something." She replied. "When I'm there, maybe I can exorcise you of those evil spirits you possess."

'I wouldn't call them evil spirits.' Ataru thought, helping her up and giving her support. 'Just ten aliens.'

It took a while for him to find her shrine, which happened to be back in Tomobiki. The woman wouldn't say what she had been doing in Nerima in the first place if she wasn't feeling well. She wouldn't even say her name, and after a while the teen boy stopped trying to make conversation.

"I'm... I'm home." She called out once they went inside, getting on all fours like she was utterly exhausted.

"Welcome back Sakura." An older woman's voice called out.

"So your name is Sakura." Ataru noted. She merely panted in response.

"Ah, you brought a guest with you?" The older woman asked, coming into view. Ataru gasped at seeing her. This woman was short, square-faced, big-earred, and overall unappealing, dressed in a kimono.

'It's a female Cherry!' Ataru mentally groaned, noting a remarkable similarity to an annoying Shinto monk he unfortunately knew.

"Is something wrong?" The Cherry-lookalike asked.

"Umm... no." Ataru answered, getting a bad feeling. "I just have to go."

"Do not let him go Mother." Sakura insisted.

"No problem." The old woman said, taking out a braided rope with paper streamers and threw it at the teen boy, wrapping around him like a snake.

"What gives?!" Ataru asked.

"You have too much negative energy around you. We must exorcise it or you will only bring doom to everyone around you." Sakura proclaimed.

"And judging by how many unlucky features you have on your face, you need this exorcism more than you need air." Sakura's mother added, dragging the struggling teen inside to one of the rooms of the shrine.

"You can't do this without my consent!" Ataru said loudly when they placed him by a small shrine within the room. 'I can't move my hands, I can't use the watch. But I _can_ run.'

"We don't need permission to do what's necessary." The old woman countered.

"Well I said no." Ataru added, getting up and running. Only to run into Sakura who pushed him down.

"Don't you understand?" She yelled angrily. Ataru could see she was now dressed as a normal miko with lit candles wrapped around her head, and her face was now a bit swollen. "I'm worried about you and just trying to help! And you're refusing my help? How ungrateful can you be?"

"Don't talk to me about being ungrateful!" Ataru yelled. "I saved every person on this planet last week and nobody seems to give a crap about it!"

Sakura winced in pain. "And if you want your luck to improve then let me exorcise you!" Without giving him a chance she grabbed the rope bindings and dragged him back, using more strength than she appeared to have while sickly. She placed him back in front of the shrine and waved one of her talismans. "Exorcise him. Purify him. Exorcise him. Purify him."

'Might as well just get this thing over with.' Ataru groaned, figuring they'd accomplish nothing and the sooner they saw that the better.

"Agh! The pain!" Sakura winced, stopping her ritual. Dark purple energy was swirling around her, and it didn't look friendly. "I must persist. I will exorcise these evil spirits. I... am getting a migraine, but I cannot stop now!"

'Screw getting this over with, I need to get out of here.' Ataru said, trying to touch the omnitrix. But he couldn't reach it.

The purple aura around Sakura was getting darker, and it was moving away from her towards Ataru, making him more desperate to escape. She almost fainted, gasping and clutching her chest, and her mother came over.

"Poor Sakura." She said, looking and sounding like this was nothing new to her.

'This can't be how an exorcism works.' Ataru told himself, feeling like he was about to break his wrist activating the omnitrix.

All of a sudden, Sakura jolted to her feet, her face full of wonder. This rather surprised her mother. "Sakura? What happened?"

"Unbelievable! I feel... wonderful!" She pumped a fist in excitement. "I've never felt so healthy in my life!"

Her mother glanced at the dark purple energy that was hovering between her daughter and the teen boy. "That miasma, it must be the source of your life long illnesses."

"Then why is it only now she can get rid of it?" Ataru asked. "It's been affecting her for years and surely you've tried exorcising her before right?" His questions feel on deaf ears as the mother and daughter hugged. "Hey!"

Sakura looked to him with a smile. "Fear not, this miasma is trying to use you as a new host. But I shall continue to exorcise you of it and your own hauntings."

"Could you maybe loosen the rope around my wrists first please? They're cutting off my circulation." Ataru lied.

"Sure." Sakura's mother said while the miko went back to chanting and waving her wand. The old woman went behind Ataru and loosened the ropes, allowing Ataru to move his hands. "That's a strange thing on your hand. Looks like a watch but there's no clock."

"Well let me tell you what time it is." Ataru jested, finally able to activate the device and spin the knob, hoping for one of the few forms he was familiar with so he could escape. "Time for..." He trailed off as he pressed the knob.

He couldn't see it, but his body got thinner, skeletally thin, and his eyes went all blank.

Sakura's mother lept away. "Hurry Sakura! The evil spirits are having a physical effect on the boy now!"

Ataru's skin turned grew and black lines showed up streaking across it, settling in a patchwork design that had no pattern. His legs fused together into a single tail-like limb, and he started to float off the floor, while a single bright purple eye appeared in the middle of a black line across where his face used to be.

"It's some kind of freaky ghost!" Sakura's mother said in fear.

"Hmm... I think I like the sound of Ghostfreak better." The new alien replied in a haunting voice.

"Evil spirit begone!" Sakura shouted, trying her hardest to exorcise the teen boy now.

The dark miasma swirled in the air, looking like it didn't know where to go now. It tried going to Ghostfreak, as if sensing something it liked, but it acted like mud against skin in that it clumped against him but didn't stick.

"This evil is too great!" Sakura warned her mother.

"Stand back I'll handle it!"

Everyone turned to see a cloaked figure jump at Ghostfreak, armed with a scythe. The impression was that of a shinigami. Too bad this shinigami actually went right thru Ghostfreak and landed face first on the floor.

"Ha! Looks like I can't be hurt in this form." Ghostfreak taunted, the dark purple energy sort of dissipating around him harmlessly.

The cloaked figure got up, revealing themselves to be Cherry.

"Uncle?" Sakura asked.

"Brother?" Her mother asked as well.

"You both can sense there's something wrong with this spirit right? Besides the obvious?" Cherry asked, not taking his eyes off the ghost-like alien. "By the way, congratulations on your improved health Sakura."

"I told you I wanted to leave, and you all kept me hostage." Ghostfreak rasped. "Let's see how tough you are now."

The skin on his stomach pulled back, and six black tentacles with grey rings going down them came out, lashing out at the three humans like a monstrous octopus. All three jumped back, missing them, and the tentacles retracted, but they looked afraid now.

"Leave this world evil spirit!" Sakura demanded, waving her streamers.

"Good riddance to you all as well." Ghostfreak said, managing to go directly thru the wall like a real ghost could. 'Wow, I'm actually a bit surprised that a real life creature can do this.' He went out of the shrine, and couldn't help but shirk a bit at the sunlight. 'Heh, the light's too bright. This creature must live in a darker environment normally. I should get some shade.'

There was a forest on the other side of the shrine, so Ghostfreak went inside, able to see better now that he was out of direct sunlight. "This looks like Tomobiki Park. Probably not a good idea to be seen like this now."

"Lum, forget about that idiot Moroboshi. You should be with me."

The ghostly alien stopped, and moved its eye, oddly enough without moving its head. The eye just moved along the black lines, like it wasn't fixed in a socket like any normal eye would be. 'That sounded like Megane. This I gotta see.' He turned invisible by subtle command and crept towards the voice of his classmate.

There Megane stood alone, facing a tree. "No, that might only enrage her. I should be more subtle, but include a lead into why she should dump Ataru's ass."

'If he wants her that's one thing, but he's making this personal. That's making me mad.' Ghostfreak mentally hissed, getting an idea.

"Alright, maybe this. Lum, I'm saying this as a friend. Ataru is all wrong for you. I've known him for years, you need to hear a few things before you go too far."

"Like this?" Ghostfreak asked from behind.

Confused, Megane turned around and gasped when he saw a grey ghost floating in front of him. And then Ghostfreak pulled back his skin, exposing the entity underneath it with a dry roar. Megane screamed, put up his arms in defense, and his hair spiked up turning white in the process.

The glasses-wearing teen fell on the ground and scooted away, unable to take his eyes off this thing that didn't belong on Earth. "What... what the heck are you?"

"I'm Ghostfreak." He answered, closing his skin. "And I'm not in a good mood right now."

"Get away! Get away!" Megane shouted, trying to scoot away more.

Ghostfreak leaned closer to the teen. "Boo." He said jokingly, but in his voice it sure didn't sound like a joke.

All Megane could do was scream more and get up and run off. Ghostfreak laughed in a dark way, and the omnitrix started to time out. He returned to normal and was somehow on the ground again instead of hovering above it.

"That was strange. That... didn't really feel right." Ataru commented. "But I'm still new to all this, so maybe I'm overthinking it."

* * *

><p>"Where is that boy?" Ataru's mother, Kinsho Moroboshi, asked as she sat at the table, looking outside and seeing the sun starting to set.<p>

"Don't be too worried. We both were that young once." Her husband Muchi Moroboshi told her while reading his newspaper.

There was a knock at the door and Kinsho got up to answer it. At the door was Lum. "What do you want?" Kinsho asked, not thrilled about having aliens back at her house.

"Is Darling here?"

"No my son is not. And I don't think he wants to see you." Kinsho answered, trying to be civil if not friendly.

"Mrs. Moroboshi, I know he doesn't want to see me. But if I just go away now his life is going to be in danger. He knows this, and yet he's trying to run away from the problem. If he won't listen to me, maybe he'll listen to you." Lum pleaded.

Kinsho looked confused. "What do you mean his life is in danger?"

"Can I come in? I don't want to explain this where others might overhear." The oni girl requested.

Kinsho was hesitant to answer. "Keep this quick." She finally said, stepping back so the extraterrestrial could enter. Lum went inside but Kinsho didn't let her get much further. "Start talking."

"I had to come back to this planet on assignment. I was delivering something that should have been delivered sooner but wasn't. Something that an inhabitant of this world requested and we were happy to oblige. But I was attacked along the way, and the item in question is now... attached to your son."

"You brought something here and now it's stuck to Ataru?" Kinsho repeated, really not liking this. "Why haven't you removed it?"

"If I could I would have, but I can't. And I don't know anyone who can. The device itself is not dangerous, but the people who want it are. Humans and non-humans have already gone after him for it. If I'm not around they are going to hurt Darling, even kill him." Lum insisted.

"And what can you do?" Kinsho asked, skeptical.

"The creator of this device is on this world, I don't know where he is but I know I can find him. Then Darling can have it removed. And until then, other non-Earthlings might come, and I can help keep Darling safe from them. Also, given what this device does, Darling's going to need someone who knows about alien lifeforms around."

"Is everything okay?" Muchi asked, walking into the room.

"Not quite, Darling has this thing called the omnitrix stuck on him, and it's going to cause a lot of trouble for him." Lum answered.

Muchi blinked. "Alien tech stuck to my son eh? Well, it seems to me the only reasonable thing to do is let someone who actually knows a thing or two about this stuff keep an eye on him so he doesn't hurt himself with it."

"That's what I told him." Lum claimed.

"That's not how you phrased it though." Ataru said from the front door, surprising everyone since they didn't hear him return.

"Son where have you been?" Kinsho asked.

"Darling!" Lum said, relieved, flying over to hug him.

"Let go of me!" He said, trying to pry her off.

"Ataru, can we see this thing Lum was telling us about?" Muchi asked.

The teen looked confused. "Why would you want to see it? It's not like you can do anything about it."

"Doesn't mean I don't want to see it." Muchi replied.

"Alright." Ataru said, then held out his left arm towards his parents.

"Looks like a watch." Kinsho noted. "But it doesn't tell time."

"I get the feeling it's not supposed to." Muchi commented. "What is it supposed to do?"

"It transforms me into other aliens." Ataru admitted.

"Transforms you? Son you absolutely have to get this thing off. It can't possibly be safe for you." Kinsho said, trying to pull off the omnitrix.

"Dear stop that." Muchi said, taking his wife's hands on his son's arm. "Remember, Lum said it's not that easy to take off."

"And you're trusting the alien that shackled our son?" Kinsho asked angrily.

"I'm trusting the voice of experience on this matter." Muchi clarified.

"You want to know what this 'voice of experience' said to me earlier?" Ataru asked. "That she expects to live here now because of all this."

"Well I've got nowhere else to go and you need me around. You don't know a thing about these creatures you turn into so who else is going to teach you? And in case you've forgotten there's someone in space trying to kill me. If I leave now I'm as good as dead." Lum said, trying to keep her cool.

"Is that the case?" Muchi asked, and Lum nodded. "Well son, I gotta say she makes a good case."

"You want to let her live here?" Kinsho asked. "We already have enough trouble with the budget."

"If money's a problem I know how to fix it, assuming Earth's currency system works as I think it does." Lum offered.

"Like what? Giving us space-dollars?"

"Space-dollars?" Lum repeated, then rolled her eyes. "What a juvenile concept. No, I'm talking something a lot more real and useful. One of Darling's new forms can create gemstones at will. Those can be sold in this economy right?"

Kinsho blinked in surprise, then looked at Ataru like he was a walking ATM. "In that case, maybe this could work."

Ataru hung his head with a sigh. 'Great, she's going to bleed me dry, and Diamondhead can't even bleed.'


	4. Chapter 4

"Any word from my daughter?" Invader asked one of the troops under his command. "She should have come back by now."

"Sadly no sir. But we did receive a distress signal from one of her escort ships. Sir, it's not good." The oni soldier replied.

"Not good? What happened to my little girl?" Invader said, leaning over the shorter oni as if he were going to eat him.

'Are we really sure this guy isn't part Pantophage?' The oni soldier asked silently. "The fleet was ambushed somewhere between Earth and Neptune by an unknown assailant. We suspect they were after the cargo."

"The cargo that was on my daughter's vessel." Invader said to himself, fearing the worse.

"The escort were unable to identify the assailant, but we're certain of two things. That your daughter managed to make it to the surface of Earth alive, and that the escort was able to prevent the assailant from following. We're looking over images of the enemy to try and identify them."

"So my daughter's alive but she hasn't been able to make contact." Invader thought out loud. "Either she can't, or she suspects doing so is a bad idea." He paused to think for a bit then smiled. "But I think I know how we can establish safe contact with her."

* * *

><p>Ataru was out for a walk, looking completely normal like he was just heading to the store or something. Yet behind and above him trailed Lum, looking very suspicious.<p>

'Going out to see one of his friends huh? Well this friend better not be a girl. Especially that girl that took advantage of him. Even if we aren't married or technically engaged, Darling is mine.'

Ataru turned down a corner and while doing so looking towards the sky, certain that he was being followed by a persistent green-haired girl. But Lum went down rather quickly, almost like she was falling, all to get out of his sight. Unable to see her, Ataru shrugged and kept walking, again followed by Lum.

After a while Ataru stopped at a house, one that looked normal for the suburbs of Tomobiki. In front of it was a green car with the hood up, and a teen boy working on the engine. "Hey Ken!" Ataru called up.

'Darling has a male friend?' Lum asked herself, genuinely surprised.

The teen stepped away from the car. The first thing Lum noted was that he wasn't Japanese. He had flat black hair, a black short-sleeve shirt worn over a grey long-sleeve shirt, a light blue jacket with oil stains, and blue jeans. His physique was more muscular than Ataru's was, like he worked out.

"Hey Ataru, I hear you've been having a rough week in class."

"Tell me about it. Why haven't you been there lately?"

"Oh, this and that's been going on. Like this guy trying to get me sent back to the states." Ken answered.

Ataru chuckled. "Oh, like you're going back without a fight."

"Yeah, but the whole program that brought me here is trying to make sure I don't get too comfortable. At least that's how I'm taking it." Ken said before closing the hood of his car. "I don't get it. I mean, I've heard of guys on student exchange programs getting citizenship in their new countries before. Why is it so hard for me to get it here? The good news is they can't deport me until I'm graduated."

"And yet they take you out of class for several days?" Ataru asked.

"Hey, I don't claim to understand social services. I'll stick to my cars thank you." Ken said, patting his car as he said it. "So what's this who wanted to show me?"

"Let's go to your room. I can't have people see me use it out here." Ataru suggested.

Lum couldn't hear what they were saying, but she was still suspicious when the two boys went inside the house. 'What are they going to do? Bet they're going to look at dirty pictures. Boys will be boys, whether they're from Uru or Earth. I guess there's no reason for me to stick around.' She thought before flying back to the Moroboshi household.

* * *

><p>"So what's up?" Ken asked, sitting on his bed while Ataru stayed standing.<p>

"I figured you might get a kick out of this." Ataru said, showing his omnitrix.

"Some new watch? That's it?" Ken asked, highly disappointed. Ataru ignored that and searched for an alien he could use, and pressed the knob. Ken looked with wide eyes as his friend's skin turned black with green lines streaking thru it. Ataru's face lost all features and was replaced by a single green ring, but overall he kept a basic if thicker and featureless humanoid shape.

"Some watch, am I right?" The new alien asked in Ataru's normal voice, the ring on his face glowing with each word. "I call this form Upgrade."

"Don't tell me you managed to swipe more from that alien babe than just her bikini top." Ken stated.

"Ha!" Upgrade laughed. "Actually, you're technically right. With this watch, I can become ten different aliens. And I'm thinking of having a little fun with them. Don't miss school tomorrow."

Ken grinned. "This I gotta see. So what can this one do? It looks like living metal to me."

"I'm still figuring out what these forms can and can't do, but from what I'm told this alien can fuse with technology and upgrade it, hence the name I gave it. I could try something with your car if you-"

"No way man. I've told you before, no one drives my car but me." Ken insisted.

"Even if I could make it fly?" Upgrade asked.

Ken raised an eyebrow. "Tempting man, I'll admit it, but not while you're still new to this. Why don't you use this to disable the parental lock my foster folks have on the computer?"

"No sweat."

* * *

><p>"Darling? You okay?" Lum asked when Ataru came home. He looked a little dazed.<p>

"I'm fine. I've just... seen things. Things I can never unsee." He answered, sitting down. 'Damn, I can't believe what kind of fetish porn they have on the internet. And being Upgrade made me see it as if it were in the same room as me instead of behind a monitor. What sick twisted freaks would find THAT stuff arousing?'

"Who did you go spend time with?" Lum asked, being careful to sound simply inquisitive rather than accusing.

"Oh, my best friend Ken. His real name is Kevin but it's easier to call him Ken in Japanese. He's an American who came here back when we were still in primary school. Said he had a lot of problems back home so his parents got him in a student exchange program. He took it hard, it felt like his family was telling him to scram, so he figured if they wanted him gone he might as well go. He's been here in Japan ever since, and he likes it here more. He gets some trouble for being a gaijin, but at least he doesn't feel unwanted in his own home here." Ataru explained, seeing no reason why not to.

Lum looked confused. "What's an American? Some separate species you share this planet with?"

Ataru chuckled. "Yeah, if that makes it easier for you to understand."

"I better check this species out." Lum thought out loud.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Ataru joked.

* * *

><p>The next day Ataru went to school and was glad to see Ken was there too. Over the years the two had sort of developed a friendship of need, being the two who fit in the least with others in their classes. Ken for not being Japanese and Ataru for being a troublemaker. They were lonely most of the time, and so they naturally spent some time together and from there friendship developed.<p>

Up ahead, heading into the school, he saw the only other person he could call this friend, Shinobu Miyake. She had been his playmate since they were kids, which was probably the reason she was the only girl in school who tolerated him despite his behavior. Ataru was well known as a pervert, not a deviant one or the kind that harassed women, but the kind that liked to look at dirty pictures and girls when they didn't want to be looked at. But of course to the girls ANY pervert was a bad kind.

Shinobu had been on Ataru's mind a lot lately. Back when Lum's people were apparently pretending to invade Earth, when he thought the world rested on his shoulders Shinobu made him a deal, if he could win the game of tag with Lum and save the world she'd marry him. Ataru perked at the idea, mainly because if he was married than he might get to experience a real relationship with a girl, both sexual and nonsexual. Yet when he did win, Shinobu refused to acknowledge she had every said anything of the sort.

Frankly it was offending Ataru quite a bit.

"Hey Shinobu-chan." He said as he came up to her.

"Morning Ataru." She replied back, giving him a bit of a cold shoulder because of Lum always trying to be around him.

"So what gives?" He asked, simply to get it out in the open.

"What?" Shinobu asked, confused.

"Remember a certain promise you made?" Ataru stressed. "If you've got a good reason for breaking it I'd like to hear it."

Shinobu frowned. "You want a reason? Alright. It was a fake promise. I never intended to keep it. For crying out loud Ataru, why would I want to marry an immature guy like you?"

Ataru blinked then frowned. "Then why say such a thing in the first place?"

"Call it momentary insanity." The brunette girl replied, looking away and picking up pace to get away from him.

Ataru made no effort to catch up to her, not needing to since they went to the same class anyway. 'That's low Shinobu. Really low. But if you think I'm not going to do anything about it, you're wrong.'

* * *

><p>Later the girls of 2-4 were in the locker room changing for gym. Shinobu had a pensive look while undressing. 'Maybe I was too harsh on Ataru. I mean, what kind of friend am I to say that to him? I know he's not the greatest guy around, but he's really the only one I know I'd even consider an option for spending my life with.'<p>

She mentally sighed. 'He seemed so eager to commit to me. How many boys these days do you see like that? Even as adults? Maybe I should have said I never said when we'd marry rather than I was never serious. I'm sure if I talk to Ataru again he'll understand. As long as that outer space bitch doesn't get involved again.'

While she was thinking to herself and changing clothes, she was unaware that Ataru was already having his little revenge.

"Agh! What is that smell?" One of the girls said, repulsed, covering her face with her shirt. Shinobu sniffed the air and practically gagged, and she wasn't the only one.

You see, a small vent connected the boys locker room to the girls, and it have been used in the past before for boys to try and inappropriately peep on the girls. As a result, school policy was now specifically done so that boys and girls didn't use the rooms at the same time. And like the old saying goes, ladies first.

Ataru was now in the form of a large insect-like creature that if he had to compare it to anything on Earth it would be a dragonfly. It had the same basic body shape and wing style, but it had four eyes on movable stalks, a humanoid mouth, and a scorpion-like stinger for a tail. It was also the size of a small horse, and came with a rather unpleasant odor according to Ken and Lum. Thus he dubbed it Stinkfly.

Ataru had snuck into the locker room earlier and transformed, and now he was spitting green ooze into the vents and batting his wings from his side to push the stench towards the girls room. "I guess now it stinks to be you Shinobu-chan."

Unable to take the smell, the girls fled the locker room, going out into the hallway where the boys could see them, and they weren't fully dressed.

By the time the riot that naturally ensued was done Ataru was human again and no one was aware he hadn't been in one of the girls angry victims for being looked at.

* * *

><p>"It had to be Ataru's fault! He caused the stink in the locker room!" A girl accused while the class stood out in the yard. Numerous girls immediately agreed with her.<p>

"How could it have been him?" Ken asked, covering for Ataru since he heard what Shinobu said to him and thought that was a low blow. "He was right there with the rest of us as you harped on us for seeing you all. Despite the fact you ran out knowing full well we have to wait in the halls." That was a lie of course, the part about Ataru being in the group of boys at the time, but no one could remember anything for certain in that riot.

"It had to be Ataru. Who else is that messed up?" A girl declared.

Ken leaned in close to her, scaring her. "Do you have any proof? Or are you accusing just for the fun of it?" The girl backed away, scared.

'This is why it's so hard for you to get a girlfriend Ken.' Shinobu thought, feeling a bit sorry for the American boy. He had never been one to open to others, even moreso here because he was so different than the rest of any school he attended. But he was loyal to Ataru, his one and only friend, and because Ken was so imposing there was an unofficial rule of 'If you want to hurt Ataru Moroboshi you'll have to go thru Ken Levin first'.

A custodian came out and spoke to Onsen-Mark and a few other teachers. "I found this weird green stuff in the vent. My guess is some kind of wet mildew was growing inside there and stunk up the place."

"See?" Ken asked.

* * *

><p>"There, that should do it." Lum said, reconnecting two severed wires from the inside of her UFO. "The third oxygen tank's shot to hell, I might as well scrap it. And my weapons are beyond repair, well, beyond my ability to repair them if nothing else. At least the flight mechanisms still work, but not as well as before. And my communicator, I don't think I should risk trying to see if it works."<p>

All of a sudden Lum felt a chill, and she shivered. "Don't tell me the heating is going out on me too."

"Not quite." A voice said from behind.

Lum gasped then turned around with a smile. "Oyuki! Boy am I glad to see you."

"I am glad to see you are alive and well." The queen of the planet Neptune said to her childhood friend. "Your father is worried for you. He heard you were attacked on your way back here."

"I was. I was the lucky one though. The others..." Lum said, melancholy.

"Your father didn't want to risk contacting you directly, in case the threat was still around. But we presumed that any such threat is only looking for signals sent to and from you, not Neptunian warp technology." Oyuki stated.

"Thanks Oyuki, I really appreciate it."

"I can take you and your ship to Neptune so you can be transported back home to Uru where you'll be safe." Oyuki added.

"What about the Earth? Won't-?"

"They will manage until help arrives to ensure your assaulter is taken care of. And if we must, Neptune will provide help to our sister planet." The cryokinetic woman reassured.

The electric oni was silent for a bit, then sighed. "I am grateful Oyuki, but I can't leave Earth just yet."

"There is nothing you can do about this threat." Oyuki pointed out.

"It's not me I'm worried about. Someone I care about is in danger too, and my mission on this world is still technically incomplete. I have to stay."

"Then I will attempt to keep you stocked and see if I can reassign some men to repair your ship." Oyuki said.

Lum blinked. "You're not going to try to convince me to do otherwise?"

"Would you have listened if I had?" Oyuki countered.

Lum smirked. "You're right about that. Dad's not going to like this."

"You staying should motivate him to act sooner then." Oyuki stated, making Lum chuckle.

* * *

><p>After school everyone was walking home and Shinobu was giving Ataru the cold shoulder during the duration when they had to walk the same route.<p>

"Maybe you should show her the watch." Ken said, wishing for the umpteenth time that driving to school wouldn't be a waste of gas. He was as far as he knew the only student of Tomobiki High to own his own car, a gift from his foster parents who were more real to him than his biological parents, so he wanted to show it off a bit. Unfortunately he had to pay for his own gas, and the trip to and from school combined with the student parking fee wasn't enough to justify showing off his wheels.

"What good will that do?" Ataru asked. "Once she learns where it came from I'll be lucky to remain on a first name basis with her."

The road forked and Shinobu was finally able to turn away. Once she wasn't followed she sighed sadly. 'I just want things to go back to normal. But as long as that horned skank is hanging around me and Ataru cannot have a relationship. It's hard enough just to have a friendship with her trying to spite me. So until she leaves, by force or by choice, he needs to believe there can't be anything between us. Maybe then Ataru will become a better man.'

"Excuse me." Someone asked, making Shinobu stop. "Can you tell me where Tomobiki High is?"

"Oh, down that way and to the right about five blocks. You can't miss it." Shinobu said, pointing behind her.

"Hmm... you've got a nice aura."

"What?" Shinobu asked.

"Oh sorry, got ahead of myself. You see, my name is Sakura and I'm a Shinto miko, but I'm applying for a job as a school nurse. Health is kind of a favored topic of mine for personal reasons. But I'm still a miko and I can tell you've got the right kind of aura for the job."

"Umm... thanks, but I'm not interested in being a miko." Shinobu told the older woman.

"Alright, I won't press the issue. But if you had proper training like me you'd be surprised what you can do." Sakura replied, then headed in the direction the teen girl had pointed out.

"Like what?" Shinobu called out, stopping Sakura.

Sakura looked towards the teen girl. "When you're strong enough you can get rid of what troubles you."

"Even onis?" Shinobu added.

Sakura grinned as if silently laughing. "Especially onis."

"Let's talk more." Shinobu said, walking towards the miko.

* * *

><p>Ataru got home and he saw his mom was in a good mood. "Hello my fantastic son."<p>

"Let me guess, Lum's ideas of selling pieces of my body worked."

Kinsho nodded. "Like a dream. We were able to get rid of the mortgage completely and we've got enough left to splurge a little. I'm serving up sukiyaki tonight."

Ataru's mouth started to water. "Great, but don't get carried away. I'm sure the jewelers will get suspicious if you show up with valuables on a daily basis."

"No problem, I'll rotate from district to district to repeat the process. Getting train tickets will be no problem anymore now."

'Yep, she'll bleed Diamondhead dry.' Ataru cringed. "Where's Lum?"

"Out in her spaceship, trying to contact her home I think."

* * *

><p>Up in space, Vilgax was still recuperating, looking over details of what his new body would be like. Some possibilities offered were immediately rejected, he wanted a body that was similar to his original one so he wouldn't have to waste time getting used to the new form. But there was no reason he couldn't keep the basic shape of his species without making a few improvements.<p>

He was pulled away from his work when an alarm went off. "So, someone's heading this way. How large a fleet?"

"Just one." The computer told him.

"One fleet? Be more specific." Vilgax ordered.

"Just one ship Lord Vilgax."

The octopus-headed alien was confused. "One ship? They know we're weakened. They're here to finish us off. All power to defenses."

"Sir, if we do that it will take us a Vilgaxian week longer to repair the ship and your own life support will weaken a bit." One of the crew members maintaining the ship protested.

"If we don't we'll be destroyed and we'll die anyway." Vilgax objected. "And since we can't escape, we will defend ourselves. Shields up at maximum."

"Affirmative." The computer told him. The barriers went up, and Vilgax waited to see who was coming his way.

To his surprise it was indeed one single ship, but while he had been expecting something massive and powerful like a Star Destroyer, it was a small fighter style, the kind a single soldier would pilot.

"What?" Vilgax asked. "A single soldier? That's even less of a threat to us than the oni ships had been."

"I wouldn't count on that. If we weren't using shields a single well-aimed shot from that ship could destroy the integrity of our own." One of the crew members clarified.

"Take down the shields and fire." Vilgax ordered.

"To what purpose sir?" The crew member asked. "That will just drain power even further."

"Just do it!" Vilgax ordered.

"There is no need. The ship has already started entering the planet's atmosphere." The computer pointed out.

'It ignored me completely? Hmm... the pilot must be aware they cannot win against us, so they're trying something else. They might even be seeking reinforcements from the planet. And they'll come at me with fully prepared soldiers. This one must be really smart to make such a maneuver.'

* * *

><p>The spaceship was descending in the air over Japan, looking for a landing place.<p>

"Unknown aircraft, you do not have authorization to be in this airspace. Identify yourself and state your purpose." A human from the military radioed, picked up on the spaceship's communicator.

The pilot did not respond.

"Unknown aircraft, if you do not comply we will conclude you are a threat and we will engage you as such." The military man claimed.

Again the pilot did not reply. However, he pulled out a piece of paper with things to say in the native language. "Request... permission... to land."

"Identify yourself." The radio repeated.

"Request... permission... to land." The pilot repeated too.

"You're not from around here. If you are lost we can guide you to a landing site. Do not do anything hostile or we will open fire." The human stated, and the signal went silent.

Two fighter jets showed up along the edges of the spaceship not long after that. Up close they could clearly see this vehicle was not made on Earth, and they considered shooting it out of the sky right there. But they were under orders to escort it first, so they did their job.

The spaceship was taken to a military base away from the major metropolitan areas of the Kanto region. Once it landed soldiers were ready for anything, especially when the ship opened and the pilot came out.

To their surprise it was a rather good-looking man, with green hair and horns like the oni they saw not too long ago. Although Invader had been the only male oni they had seen so this guy looked more normal by comparison.

One of the generals came up to him. "What is your business for returning to this planet? Your kind were told to leave after we won our right to remain self-governed."

The oni held up a photo of Lum and pointed to her.

"Please be more clear. What does this mean?" The general asked, only for the oni to point again. "Can you understand what I'm saying?"

"Hungry." The oni said.

'Apparently there is intelligent life out there in the universe, and this guy's not part of it.' The general said to himself.


	5. Chapter 5

"Such a quiet night." Cherry said to himself while cooking stew at his campsite, located as usual in an empty lot in Tomobiki. "It feels... ominous. There's no telling what could happen now."

Just as he said that, his stew started to bubble louder, as if demanding his attention. He looked, and his eyes almost popped out of his skull when he saw the ingredients briefly spell out 'Doom' before vanishing.

"Something dark is coming. Something that can only cause trouble. And I think I know where it's going to manifest itself."

* * *

><p>"You're saying an evil spirit is coming after our son?"<p>

Cherry sipped some tea at the Moroboshi table. "I can't say for absolute certainty, but your son does have a tendency to attract nasty spirits and of course aliens. I couldn't help but feel you need a warning."

Muchi looked unconvinced. "And I don't suppose you can actually be specific on what we're supposed to be on the lookout for?"

"I just know it's going to be terrible, something you'll wish never showed its face around here." Cherry explained. Some bumping around upstairs made him look upstairs. "I might be too late though."

* * *

><p>Upstairs Ataru was trying to clean up his room, or more precisely, undo the changes Lum was making to it.<p>

"Dammit Lum! This is my room! It's been my room since I moved to Tomobiki!"

"But it's our room now Darling!" Lum insisted. "And it could use a woman's touch!"

"Why don't you sleep in your UFO?" Ataru asked.

"I told you. I sent it in for repairs."

Ataru rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and what mechanic in town can repair UFOs?"

"I'm glad you asked, because my mechanic isn't in town. One of my friends offered to repair it. I think you'd like her if you met."

"Her?" Ataru asked.

Lum quickly realized her mistake. "But don't get any funny ideas about her Darling. We may not be official, but I intend on making us work."

Ataru sat down. "Lum, if you don't mind me asking, why? I mean, you barely know me, and frankly you're coming on very strong."

Lum smiled. "Let's just say I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic. Besides, you're much better than my last boyfriend."

"You had a boyfriend?" Ataru asked. "Actually I shouldn't be surprised considering how popular you are here. How am I better?"

"If you ever saw him you'd understand. Let's just pray you'll never have to." Lum replied.

"Yes, praying will do you good boy." Cherry said from the doorway, startling both teens.

"Cherry? What are you doing here you good-for-nothing monk?" Ataru asked.

"I came to warn you of ominous misfortune heading your way." The monk explained, only to have the younger boy cover his ears. "Even as I speak a monster of some sorts is-"

"Bor-ring!" Lum rudely interrupted, stretching. "Cherry, we can handle any monster that might show up."

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but I completely agree with Lum." Ataru commented.

"Listen to me!" Cherry started to yell. "You have to get away from this area quickly!"

"What good will that do anyone?" Ataru asked.

"It will spare the rest of us if nothing else." Cherry explained.

Lum pointed at the old monk and zapped him good.

Ataru smiled. 'Maybe being around Lum does have some benefits besides the watch.'

* * *

><p>Outside Shinobu was walking in the streets. "I better get home soon, the weather's not looking so good." She glanced in the direction Ataru's house was. "I've been feeling guilty a lot. Who am I kidding? It was wrong to tell Ataru my promise was just a lie. I should have just told him I phrased it wrong, that we could have gone steady if he won the race. But knowing our luck, Lum still would have interfered. That bitch."<p>

Thoughts of Lum made her think about to Sakura's offer and what the older woman explained to her. "If she was telling the truth, and I really can do all that stuff, then Lum doesn't stand a chance against me when I decide to get rid of her. Then things can return to normal for me and Ataru and we can try to get something going. I just wonder how long it's going to take, it's been a week already since I met her. And boy, what a week it was for those stupid boys faking sick just to try and see the nurse."

Behind her she heard a trembling sound, like a lot of things were shaking. She turned, and immediately yelled, for walking down the streets in her direction was a giant beast that looked like an ox-tiger of myth brought to life.

"Help me!" Shinobu screamed, running for her life, and oddly enough towards Ataru's house rather than her own. Without looking back, she could tell by the sound alone that the creature was following her.

* * *

><p>"Hey Lum, why is it you can fire bolts of lightning but my oni form couldn't?" Ataru asked after Lum kicked Cherry's charred body out the window.<p>

"Oh, that's because lightning isn't the only substance my race can manipulate." Lum answered, sitting down. "I can explain better if you're interested."

Ataru shrugged. "Sure, if you think it will help."

"Alright, now, my race the oni have the natural ability to influence some aspects of our immediate environment. While we generally have no limits beyond what our bodies can withstand, we are in fact limited in what we can manipulate. Meaning in my case electricity is all I can use, and I can only use as much as my body can generate or withstand. Also, electricity is the second most common element my kind can use. The most common is fire."

"So there are fire-breathing oni?" Ataru asked.

Lum nodded. "Yep. In fact my younger cousin is one such oni. Less common but still known of traits are manipulation of water, air, and ground. I believe your type is a groundshaker oni, meaning your power is controlling the earth around you and if you got trained well enough, anything made from minerals that come from the ground. Like bricks and pavement. But not metal or wood. Manipulating those are different cases altogether and are two of the rarest skills of my kind."

"What's the rarest?" Ataru asked.

Lum looked hesitant to admit it. "It's... the official name for it is self-manipulation, but the more common name is shapeshifting. It's not as impressive as it sounds, believe me."

Ataru looked at the omnitrix. "Oh well, no need for that when I have this."

"Ataru help!"

The boy turned to his open window. "That was Shinobu!"

"What does she want?" Lum asked, unhappy.

Ataru went to check, and to his surprise his childhood friend was trying to climb into his room from the outside. "You okay?" He asked as he pulled her up and into his room.

Shinobu paused to catch her breath. "A monster was chasing after me. It looked like some tiger on steroids and it had horns and made a weird mooing sound as it ran."

Lum jerked as if it. "Oh no, not him. Anyone but him."

"You know this thing?" Ataru and Shinobu asked.

Lum ignored them and looked into the yard over the balcony, frowning. "Dammit Rei! I told you we're thru!"

Ataru looked over the railing and saw not a beast but a man. An oni male to be specific, wearing a dark orange tiger stripe jumpsuit. "That's no monster Shinobu."

The brunette looked too. "What? Where'd he come from."

"Lum." The male oni called.

"Go home Rei! Scram!" Lum shouted.

"So who's this?" Ataru asked.

"Remember that ex-boyfriend I told you about?" She asked. "That's him."

"You used to be with this guy?" Shinobu asked, looking back and forth between the two aliens. "Why'd you break up with him?"

"Because he's unlikable, that's why."

Shinobu blinked. 'She considers this guy to be worse of a boyfriend than Ataru?'

"What's all the yelling about?" Kinsho asked, walking into the room, seeing everyone look over Ataru's porch. She looked too, and blushed to see Rei. "Is that a friend of yours Lum?"

"No, just an uninvited visitor."

"Well he came all this way, we might as well be polite." Kinsho said, then turned to go downstairs.

"No Mrs. Moroboshi. Don't let him inside." Lum pleaded, but was ignored.

"Lum, I gotta know, just what is it about this guy you don't like?" Shinobu asked. "I mean, for one thing he's gorgeous."

"Sure, at the moment. Remember that monster you were running from?" Lum asked, and Shinobu nodded. "That was him."

"What? But that's impossible."

"That was him." Lum repeated with complete seriousness.

"Oh, you mean he has that rare shapeshifting skill you said some onis have?" Ataru asked, and Lum nodded. Shinobu practically deflated to hear this, and jolted when Kinsho led Rei into the bedroom.

"Lum." He said, coming up to her. The female oni let out some sparks, making Rei keep his distance but not run off.

"I told you Rei we're thru. You had your chance and you blew it."

"Lum, don't be so harsh. I mean, so he changes shape, that can't be the problem." Shinobu stated. 'Maybe I can get her to ditch Ataru and go home this way.'

Ataru suppressed a laugh. "Trust me Shinobu, shapeshifting isn't exactly a turn-off for Lum."

"And you would know how?" She asked with an accusing glare.

"Anyone want some sweet potatoes?" Kinsho asked, holding up a tray of the snacks.

Rei came to her and gently took the tray, then in a surprise move appeared to kiss Kinsho's hand.

"Hey!" Ataru shouted.

"Oh my, I'm so embarrassed." Kinsho said, covering her face and leaving, but she didn't sound like she hated what had happened to her.

"_You're_ embarrassed?" Ataru asked, then looked to Lum. "Is that the reason you dumped him?"

"He wasn't putting the moves on her if that's what you think." Lum clarified. "He was just tasting her fingers."

"Tasting her?"

Lum nodded and looked ready to roar. "All he cares about is food! He's worse than a starving Gourmand!"

The fact that Rei was scarfing down the sweet potatoes and keeping the plate close to himself only reinforced her point.

"Hey! You're not hogging those!" Ataru told the hungry alien. Rei had a dangerous look in his eyes, like he was daring Ataru to do something about it.

"He's a pig! A glutton! He'd eat his own mother if he could! I hate him!" Lum declared.

Rei started to cry, concerning Shinobu. "Don't be so hard on him Lum. You're making him cry."

"He's crying because he likes the sweet potatoes so much." Lum countered, and to Shinobu's shock Rei actually nodded to this, eating more potatoes. "Being his girlfriend is like being second fiddle to a bowl of rice. I can't stand being with him."

"But he's at least an oni like you. That's got to count for something." Shinobu pointed out.

Lum looked to her. "I've got Darling for that."

"Ataru? But he's not an oni."

Lum looked to the human male. "Show her."

Ataru looked between the girls, then shrugged. "Why not? I was going to show Shinobu at some point after all." He activated the omnitrix and pressed it, turning into Onitaru right in front of Shinobu and Rei.

"What the...? But... but how?" Shinobu asked. Rei looked on in silence, eating the last of the sweet potatoes.

"Rest assured Shinobu this isn't the real me. This watch I've been wearing just isn't a normal watch."

"See that Rei? Darling's a much better shapeshifter than you and he likes me even when I'm not feeding him!" Lum stated firmly, while Onitaru looked away.

"You're forgetting one major thing Lum. He was mine first!" Shinobu pointed out.

"Yours?" Lum asked, pulling down an eyelid and sticking her tongue out. "If he meant so much to you then you wouldn't have deceived him like you did."

"She's got a point." Onitaru couldn't help but agree.

"I was wrong okay? I admit it, it was wrong of me to say that. But for all his faults, Ataru is still my close friend. You're just... why are you even here in his room to begin with?" Shinobu asked.

The oni girl got a devious grin. "Oh you didn't know? I moved in here a week ago. We've been sharing this room."

"What?" Shinobu asked, and only then saw a telling detail she had overlooked: There were two futons in the room. They were kept apart, but they were there. (AN: Don't bother telling me in canon Lum slept in the closet, I'm more than well aware of that. Here it's different, and that's that.)

"Ataru what the hell? You let her sleep with you?" Shinobu asked in disbelief.

"And that's not all." Lum added, cutting off Onitaru. "I'm going to have his baby."

The silence that ensued from that one claim was unmeasurable. It was like all noise pollution of Tokyo itself just ceased to exist. The last bit of food in Rei's mouth actually fell from his lips.

"What... did you just say?" Shinobu asked, looking like she was about to transform into something not human even without an alien trick.

"Heh, you heard me. I'm pregnant. Jealous?" Lum taunted. It was a lie of course, but it was getting the intended result.

"Ataru Moroboshi, you... you..." Shinobu started, too mad to properly express herself.

"She's lying!" Onitaru claimed, getting nervous from the brunette's death glare.

"Why should I believe you?" Shinobu replied as she started to wail on him.

Onitaru refused to fight back, just defend himself. "Why do _you_ believe _her_?"

Rei transformed into his ox-tiger form and roared/bellowed in outrage. He reared on his hind legs and tried to crush Onitaru. Shinobu moved, as if permitting the beast to do this. Onitaru was less permitting, and dashed outside flying. Rei jumped out running after him.

"Dammit Ataru you get back here!" Shinobu yelled, rushing outside as well but she was taking the stairs.

"I better keep an eye on this." Lum said to herself, flying outside wondering if maybe her lie was a bit too much.

Beast-Rei was keeping up with Onitaru, much to the teen's surprise. 'What's with this guy? What's with Lum? Why am I surrounded by obnoxious aliens?'

"Darling?" Lum said, proving she was faster than Beast-Rei and coming up alongside Onitaru. "I went overboard, I'm sorry."

"You're sorry? That's all you have to say?" He asked.

"At least I'm admitting it. Besides, look at how willing your close friend was to believe it. She didn't even consider that I was lying."

'She's right, as underhanded as she was, Shinobu shouldn't have been so quick to take her seriously.' Onitaru thought. Then the omnitrix started beeping. "I'm about to time out. I need to land."

"There's your school." Lum offered, pointing towards Tomobiki High.

"I hope I can make it."

He timed out in the air just as he passed the surrounding wall, and luckily Lum was there to catch him so he didn't crash.

Beast-Rei appeared quickly, and stopped at the gate, cutting off the only escape without flight. He returned to his normal form, and pulled out a pistol from somewhere Ataru didn't want to think about. But he didn't fire.

"What's he waiting for?" Ataru asked.

"Ah, I think he's challenging you to a duel. He wants to prove I should be with him over you."

"What if I don't want to duel?"

Lum shook her head. "On Uru, refusing to accept a duel is the same as giving the challenger permission to kill."

"But this isn't Uru." Ataru objected.

"You think he's smart enough to care?" Lum asked.

Rei stepped closer. "Bang. Dead." He threatened.

"Darling, you have to accept the duel. To defend us being together." Lum insisted.

"Now you're dueling for her?" Shinobu asked, standing by the gate and out of breath again. 'Please no more running tonight.'

"I shouldn't have to. This is stupid." Ataru insisted.

"After everything else you've done for that bimbo you might as well fight and die for her." Shinobu proclaimed.

Ataru frowned, really hurt by that. "So that's how much I mean to you Shinobu. Despite all our years together, despite our friendship, this is how you really see me." He took a deep breath. "Then I might as well accept. Why should I care if I might die if one of my best friends doesn't?"

Shinobu had the decency to looked ashamed of herself. 'Why do I keep making things worse for us? Maybe Ataru's not the problem.'

Ataru looked to Rei. "You wanna fight? Fine, you're on."

Rei grinned and put away his gun. "Tomorrow." He then walked away.

Ataru looked confused. "That was easy."

Lum looked upset. "Well he's given you a day to get ready. Probably thinks it's the only way you'll have a chance to beat him. Or more likely he just wants to keep eating for now."

"Well that gives me a day for you to help me learn how to fight an alien like an alien." Ataru replied.

"It will be my pleasure Darling."

The two headed home. "Ataru, I-" Shinobu started.

"Goodnight Miyake-san." Ataru coldly cut her off, walking past her.

Shinobu stood there for a moment, crying, and didn't head home until she couldn't see him anymore.

* * *

><p>"Now Darling, if you're going to duel Rei, I recommend doing it in either your human form or oni form." Lum started when the two were back in Ataru's room. "Technically there's no rule forbidding the omnitrix being used, but if you only win because of it the duel might be declared invalid and you the loser by default. Since Rei can shapeshift to just one form, you might be limited to just one form yourself, and in oni duels your oni form will be the most helpful."<p>

"Makes sense. So what do I do?" Ataru asked.

"First thing you need to learn is what you can do and what Rei can do. Like I was explaining earlier, we oni can manipulate aspects of our environment to give us an environmental advantage we wouldn't normally have. This helps us handle being in a wide variety of habitats, like your own species. Humans are actually regarded as one of the most adaptable sentient races in the known universe."

"Really?" Ataru asked. "Considering what I've seen aliens do in movies and such, humans always seem so handicapped by comparison without technology."

"Sci-fi movies on my world are kind of the same. That's more for plot though than accuracy. Anyway, like your culture has five elements, we do too. Ours are fire, lightning, water, air, and ground. Control of these elements are called pyromancy, electromancy, aquamancy, geomancy, and aeromancy. I am an electromancer and your oni form is a geomancer."

"Fire is the element of emotion and power. Manipulation involved controlling an already existing fire or creating flames from your own body heat. Those that use it are taught to be open with their emotions and be determined in all they do. But they are required to have emotional balance, if they lack self control they are prone to destruction, including self-destruction, and conversely if they have too much self control their power is suppressed."

"Lightning is the element of energy and judgment. Manipulation involves strengthening the natural electric charge in the air around you. Those like me that use it are taught to be energetic and free-thinking, not limiting ourselves only to what we're told to do. Lightning is nearly impossible to control, once you create it you cannot govern it, instead you can only guide it. So we are taught to be aware of what we're doing and must deal with the consequences of our actions, regardless of what we intended them to be."

'My guess is she needs a little more learning in that regard.' Ataru thought to himself.

"Water is the element of change and versatility." Lum continued. "Manipulation requires controlling water in a present liquid source or condensing the moisture in the air. Those that can do this are taught to be unpredictable and accepting of changes and differences. Water cannot stay in one form or one place for long, so aquamancers are taught not to limit themselves to routine or a stagnant lifestyle. Most progress on my planet has been the result of aquamancer oni trying new things."

"Air is the element of freedom and peace. Manipulation is little more than directing the air around you into usable currents or pockets. Those that use this are taught to not be materialistic or aggressive. They are humble and usually act as the voice of reason, but at the same time their detachment makes it difficult for them to see beyond the long term and their pacifism makes it difficult for them to handle being in fights. Also, aeromancy oni are the ones least likely to go out into space."

"Now that you've said it I'm not surprised." Ataru commented. "But why are you telling me all this?"

"It helps to understand so you know what to expect when and if you encounter other oni. I do intend to introduce you to my family after all." Lum pointed out.

Ataru looked worried. 'I gotta see that giant father of hers again?'

"Finally, we have your element, ground, or as you call it, earth. On my world we call it uru instead, so ground's the best common word to use." Lum added. "Ground is the element of substance and conviction. Manipulation is basically forcing the ground and stone around you to move at your command, reshaping the landscape and using the land itself as your tool. Users are taught to be forceful and undaunted, able to handle anything that comes their way and willing to match it with more force. They also have to be patient, able to handle periods of inactivity."

"Stubborn and patient at once?" Ataru asked. "That sounds like a contradiction."

"Stubborn isn't the same as being impatient Darling. Instead that's how a child thinks. A mature geomancer oni knows how to wait, and strike when the opportunity presents itself, and they also know how to make the opportunity present itself. Remember, it's not enough that you make the rocks and soil obey you, you must also know what you need them to do. Like in my case, I can try to aim my lightning, but I can't guarantee it will hit the intended target or only that target in particular. I have to be aware of what I'm doing before I do it, and if I make a mistake it's on me to make up for it and suffer the consequences. For you, you must be aware of when to act and when not to act, and if you make a mistake it's on you to put things back in your favor."

"Alright, and how does this help me against Rei?" Ataru asked.

Lum smiled. "Glad you asked. First, let me explain Rei's ability. He has no element, just physiomancy or self manipulation. This means he alters not the environment around him but his own cellular structure in order to take another form. This is the rarest skill of my race, with not much known because most don't bother checking up on it. I did when I was trying to understand Rei better, but sadly understanding what he could do didn't make being with him any easier. Anyway, an oni like this can morph into an animal form, usually one we're already familiar with to make it easier. And expert users can even have more than one form. The catch to this is such a power drains the body, so Rei's appetite is partly a result of this."

"Then why do you get so upset about it if it's something he can't help?" Ataru asked.

"I said partly, not completely." Lum clarified. "Rei's a glutton, plain and simple. If you don't have food, you might as well not be there as far as he's concerned. Every time we spent time together it was at restaurants and he'd even take my food and give me the bill. When it was time to do something besides eat, he went home saying he was still hungry. Sometimes I swear he uses his ability just to ensure he doesn't get fat."

She paused for a bit, trying to calm herself. "Anyway, here's what you need to know. An oni duel usually consists of three stages. Best two out of three wins. First is a display of power to see who's the better. If you had no oni form he'd be required to skip that as he'd have an unfair advantage. In this he's just going to show something he can do with his physiomancy and you have to counter with something you can do with geomancy. The winner is based on who considers the other to be better."

"And what's to stop him from refusing to admit defeat?" Ataru asked.

"Duels are usually witnessed so the audience can give input too. Besides, there's only so much he can do compared to you. You just got to have variety then him and you're all set. The second stage is an eating contest, done mainly to recover strength from the first stage."

"I'm going to struggle there." Ataru said.

Lum grinned. "Maybe, but Rei does have a weakness when it comes to eating that might come up if he's not careful. I wouldn't worry about that either. The last stage if there's no clear winner by this point is to simply fight each other directly in whatever way you can. Basically if you haven't beaten him by then, you've got to beat him the old fashioned way."

"Well, I'm not much for beating others senseless, so I'm just going to try and win the first two." Ataru declared.

Lum nodded. "Alright, so tomorrow I'll start you in learning geomancy. I'll need some time to get you a set of instructions."

* * *

><p>"Who is this guy?"<p>

"I don't know. He came in and ordered beefbowl after beefbowl. He hasn't stopped."

Two guys working at a shop were watching a customer in fascination as he chowed down like he'd die otherwise. Other customers watched too, finding it harder to eat as they watched.

"How many has he had?"

"I lost count after thirty."

"Just tell me he's paid for this amount."

"..."

"You didn't charge him?"

"Do you think you can get money out of him now? I think the only thing we can do is wait until he's done."

"And what if he's flat broke? Besides, doesn't he look alien to you? What if he doesn't have Earth money?"

"I didn't think of that."

"You better pray you don't lose your job over this."


	6. Chapter 6

Fortunately for Lum there was somewhere within walking distance that she could use for training Ataru in oni powers. That place happened to be a currently vacant construction site, though it looked like the crew was merely taking the day off rather than abandoned the project.

"This will have to do since we can't use my UFO to get us to the mountains, and since you have to face Rei tonight I'd rather not waste time with you flying to and from the mountains yourself." Lum told the earth native.

"So I just gotta learn how to move rocks around?" Ataru said.

Lum nodded. "Yeah but it's not as easy as it sounds. I don't know how to teach geomancy so I'm just winging it here. And since I can't send out any signals myself into space I can't call for a proper instructor."

"But it's all we've got." Ataru said, and Lum nodded sadly. "Still, I did it once on pure reflex. It shouldn't be that hard."

Lum shook her head. "Try walking while actually thinking about how your legs move."

Confused, Ataru did as she said, and immediately noticed something. "This... feels unusually awkward."

"That's because doing something by reflex and doing something under command are different. It's the same with element control. It's one thing for me to make shocks out of anxiety or self defense, it's another to have an actual intent for the electricity. Same with you and the ground."

"So what do I do?" Ataru asked.

"Well first you change."

Ataru nodded and activated the omnitrix. But this transformation felt weird. His arms thickened and his body slimmed, his eyes getting bigger while he felt lighter. When it was done, he was looking up at Lum like she was the Statue of Liberty. "What happened? This isn't right?" He asked in a high-pitched voice.

"A Galvan? Darling you were supposed to select the oni function." Lum said, looking at the creature below her. It resembled the type of alien humans generally called the Greys, only much smaller and with some clear amphibious traits to it.

"You think I didn't try? The watch must have screwed up on me." The tiny alien complained.

"Well we might as well wait for you to return to normal." Lum said, sitting down hovering in the air. "At least I got something to keep me busy."

With that, she pulled her bra away from her chest and reached inside, surprising the boy-turned-alien in front of her. He was more surprised when he saw her put something out. A screwdriver and some handheld machine he didn't recognize.

"How did you do that?" He asked. "There must be some kind of subspace dimensional distorting pockets sewn into the cups of your bra to work in place of pockets, allowing you to carry things around without them weighing you down or affecting your aerodynamics." He paused, eyes wide. "Whoa, where did all that come from?"

"Nothing to worry about. Galvans have highly evolved central nervous systems for their small size. Pound for pound they're the most advanced brains in the galaxy." Lum explained, not taking her eyes off her tinkering.

"So this is what it's like to be smart?" He asked, then after a moment shrugged. "Eh, it's overrated."

* * *

><p>Evening came and the school grounds were deserted, save for two people.<p>

"Good, you didn't tell anyone." Ken said, noting the lack of an audience.

"I still think I should have." Shinobu commented, feeling a little cold and holding her jacket tighter.

"Why? I told you Ataru doesn't want his secret known to the whole school. We're the only two he trusts with it." Ken replied.

Shinobu gave the American-born boy a cross look. "Really? Well if he trusts me so much then why didn't he tell me until he had to?"

"When did he have an opportunity to?" Ken asked back calmly.

The brunette girl was silent for a moment. "Fine, I'll give you that one. But still, this is weird."

"Ataru's still the same guy he's always been Shinobu." Ken reminded her.

"Only now he's got some space slut hanging on his arm and he's parading her around." Shinobu added bitterly.

"Lum's not a slut Shinobu."

The brunette frowned more. "Of course she is! Look at what she wears!"

"Maybe that's just acceptable attire to her culture." Ken offered. "I'm sure her parents wouldn't let her go around like that if they thought it was inappropriate to wear in public."

"Well... what about the fact she's sleeping in the same room as Ataru?" Shinobu asked.

"You said you never intended to marry him, so how is that your business?" Ken asked back.

"Don't you think it's wrong?" Shinobu asked.

Ken shook his head. "Are they committing any crimes? Are they hurting anyone or each other? Is this affecting Ataru's performance is school?" Shinobu could not answer. "Then how is this wrong?"

"It's... it's indecent!" Shinobu finally admitted.

"And it's not happening in your house. Shinobu, I say this to you as a friend, let it go. If you have a legitimate concern about Ataru associating with Lum, then take it up with his parents. But if this whole thing is about you feeling usurped by Lum, then you're only making yourself look petty." Ken advised.

Shinobu adverted her eyes, having lost her conviction.

A few minutes later Ataru showed up, followed by Lum and his parents. Kinsho looked eager to be there, and was wearing make-up, while Muchi looked upset. Ataru looked determined to stand his absent opponent down.

"So where is the giant airhead?" Ataru asked.

"Believe me, if he was here we'd all know it." Lum groaned. "Fortunately for you if he's late he forfeits."

"And?" Ataru asked, wondering how that benefited him.

"And what? He forfeits." Lum answered.

'So I'm punished if I refuse to accept the duel but he isn't if he walks away from it? What kind of planet do these guys live on?' Ataru asked himself.

A moment later Rei showed up, trying to look gallant but whether or not it was intentional was debatable. Nonetheless Kinsho was blushing and brushed some hair out of her face.

Muchi saw this was was not happy. "He's young enough to be your son. Have some decency." His wife just ignored him.

"So you ready for this?" Ataru asked, coming up to Rei, who nodded. "Alright, let me get ready." With that, he activated the omnitrix and turned into Onitaru.

Lum looked to Rei. "Remember the terms Rei?" He nodded. "Alright, so this round is display of powers. You get the first chance."

Rei's chance was rather predictable, he morphed into his giant ox-tiger form, then of all things started posing like someone was taking pictures of him. It kind of made everyone by Kinsho look mildly revolted, while Kinsho herself just looked confused.

"My turn?" Onitaru asked, and Lum nodded. He cracked his knuckles, held his arms in front of him with his hands up like he was holding something, and raised them above his head quickly. In front of him a chunk of the ground broke free and hovered at roughly his own height, surprising everyone but Lum. He then started to spin his arms slowly and the chunk of ground began to rotate around him, slowly gaining speed.

It was Rei's turn to see if he could one-up this. But unfortunately he only knew how to take on this one form and there was little he could do in it that he hadn't already revealed. So he returned to normal form. "Your win." He admitted.

"Good." Onitaru said.

Lum came up, this time with two trays of freshly made sweet potatoes that Kinsho had been kind enough to provide. "Second round is the eating contest. Whoever finishes first wins but if either of you stops or ends up using their powers here you lose. Ready?" Both males nodded and sat down. "Begin."

"What kind of duel is this?" Shinobu asked, confused as hell.

"Well, considering these aliens thought a tag race is a good challenge, are you surprised?" Ken asked.

Rei and Onitaru were scarfing down the sweet potatoes at a pace that made it a wonder either of them were able to chew let alone taste the vegetables. Rei had a lot of experience is vast consumptions, but not so much in speed-eating. Conversely, Ataru was experienced in speed-eating due to quickly sneaking in snacks during class, but he was used to doing so with small amounts over time, not large amounts all at once. In a way, the two were more evenly matched than one might initially assume.

"You can do it Darling!" Lum cheered.

At a while, Onitaru started to groan, looking like he was in pain. "Ugh... I'm getting stuffed."

"You can't stop now Darling!" Lum encouraged.

'If I give up here, that's a tie and all I have to do is win the next round. But I'm not really a fighter and I don't think I can beat him before the watch times out.' Onitaru thought, still eating but at a slower pace. He glanced at Rei, who showed no signs of stopping just yet. 'I'll take my chances.'

Onitaru put down his unfinished sweet potato. "I'm done."

"Darling no!" Lum objected. "You can't quit!"

"I can't eat any more. He wins this one." Onitaru said clearly, with Rei still chowing down.

Lum sighed sadly. "Alright, that's one win apiece. Now for the tie-breaker, a direct battle until death or surrender. Rei, stop eating!"

Once the sweet potatoes were taken away, much to the male oni's objection, the two stood apart, ready to fight. The audience looked nervous, wondering what would happen since Ataru had never been in a real fight before. He had been victimized, but he never actually threw a punch back. Lum threw a hand down, signaling they could start.

Onitaru went for a quick attack, taking control of the discarded chunk of ground he had used before and throwing it at Rei. Rei transformed back into his ox-tiger form and withstood the damage with no sign of injury. He then charged at Onitaru, who moved his arms to create a wall between the two. Beast-Rei barged thru it, the wall not strong or thick enough to provide any real barrier to the animal.

Unable to do anything else on short notice, Onitaru jumped into the air, hovering above Beast-Rei as he ran into some trees on the school grounds.

"He can fly?" Shinobu asked, shocked.

"Why so surprised? Lum could too." Ken reminded her.

Onitaru landed behind Beast-Rei, putting his arms together and then spreading them apart. The ground under the ox-tiger split apart and he fell into the newly made hole. It wasn't too terribly deep, just deep enough that the animal couldn't climb out easily.

"You give up?" Onitaru asked, seeing Beast-Rei struggle to climb out and fail.

After a moment Beast-Rei turned back into normal Rei, making Onitaru think he was giving up. But from out of seemingly nowhere, maybe using the same dimensional distortions that Lum's bra used, Rei took out a jetpack and put it on, using it to fly out of the pit.

"What the hell?" Onitaru asked. 'Lum said Rei can't fly, but she didn't say anything about this.'

Rei pulled out the gun he had last night, and took aim. Onitaru took to the air, making him a harder target to hit. Rei kept shooting and missing, and the humans observing this midair contest had to duck for cover, screaming.

"Hey! Be more careful!" Onitaru yelled, getting in close enough to punch Rei in the face from the side. Rei was stunned and fell to the ground, and the omnitrix started to time out. Onitaru landed safely this time. 'Damn, if he's not done yet I'll have to stall until this recharges.'

Rei got up, holding his hurt side and glaring at the earthling. He knew he wasn't the smartest or most skilled oni around, even back home, but the one thing he had that he could be proud of what his appearance. So someone hitting him in the face was a blow to his vanity as well as his body.

Acting according, as far as he knew, he kept firing at Ataru, who had no choice but to take shelter among the trees.

"C'mon, you can recharge faster than this." Ataru said, fiddling with the omnitrix in hopes he could make it usable right away. So far the device disagreed.

"Darling if you keep hiding you forfeit!" Lum warned. "You have to fight back, not run away!"

'Easy for you to say.' Ataru groaned.

Rei was forced to stop and eject a used energy cartridge from his laser gun. Apparently even those kind of guns could run out of ammunition. This gave Ataru a chance to retaliation, but without his omnitrix he wasn't sure how to. It wasn't in him to be the aggressor.

Nonetheless, he had to if he wanted to live, and often the will to survive overcame morality. Ataru grabbed a large stick and came running at Rei, hoping to at least get a few good hits in. Unfortunately Rei still had his jetpack on, and was more than able to dodge.

"Hey genius! You dropped something!" Ataru yelled, grabbing the discarded weapon.

Rei looked at his hands and saw he wasn't holding his weapon, making him frustrated. He dove at the human boy intending to snatch it out of his grasp. But Ataru moved the gun at the last moment, so Rei's face collided with the back end.

As one might expect, Rei yelled in pain, grabbed his face, kept going since he was already moving, and couldn't see where he was going. As a result, he crashed into the ground and rather hard at that.

"Is it over?" Shinobu asked.

The others got around Rei, standing over him to see. However he did not move.

"That's good enough for me. Darling wins the duel." Lum said happily.

"That was easier than I thought." He said, discarding his stick and gun before wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Rei's not used to having people fight back. Most girls are too entranced with his appearance to be tsundere's to him, and most men lose their nerve when they see him animal form." Lum explained.

"He will be okay right?" Kinsho asked.

Muchi frowned. "Your husband is standing right here you know."

She frowned. "Well sor-ry for showing concern for an injured man."

"A man that shot at your son." Muchi pointed out. "Any other mother would want him more hurt for that."

"Well he doesn't know any better. You heard Lum. He's mentally ill and from another world." Kinsho claimed.

Muchi frowned. "You're defending the man who tried to kill your own son? What is wrong with you?"

Ataru grabbed Lum's arm gently. "Let's get out of here, this could get ugly." She nodded and they started walking away, with Ken and Shinobu following.

"So who's going to explain the damage done to the yard tomorrow?" Shinobu asks.

Ataru shrugged. "Don't know don't care. Just remember, say a word about the watch and we're not even on speaking terms any more."

Shinobu winced. "By the way, Ataru can I talk to you for a moment? In private?" At that last part she glanced at the oni girl as if to say 'That means you'.

Perceiving the implication correctly, Lum frowned. "Anything you can to my Darling you can say with me around."

"Sorry Lum, but that's not your decision to make." Ataru told her, surprising her. "Alright Shinobu, but make it quick. Ken, can you take Lum home for me?"

"Sure thing bud." Ken said with a nod, knowing that Ataru was secretly saying 'Please make sure she doesn't eavesdrop'. "C'mon Lum."

"But..." Lum objected, but ended up complying and walking away. "What did he mean that it wasn't my decision to listen?" She asked when they were away.

"Think about if you were in Shinobu's shoes." Ken told her. "If you wanted to talk to a friend in private with no one else listening in, how would you feel if a third party said 'Screw you' to that?"

"I... guess that makes sense." Lum replied, seeing the teen boy's point.

"Also Lum, word of advice regarding Ataru, don't try to make him tell you what Shinobu tells him." Ken added, received a confused but attentive look from the oni girl. "You want a relationship with him right?" She nodded. "A good way to start is to show trust and respect to him. If he wants to tell you what he's been told, he'll do it without you coaxing him to. If he doesn't, trying to make him tell you will only make you come across as a control freak. Let him make his own choices, even if you don't like the ones he makes, and he'll soon trust you enough to want to be your boyfriend."

"You sure?" Lum asked.

"I think so. At least that's what I'm told. I've never had a girlfriend myself, but I do hear a lot on what to do from tv and stories." Ken admitted.

"Well, I think I can give it a try."

"Lum? Is that you?" Megane called out, running up to the aforementioned girl from behind, making her and Ken both stop and turn. Accompanying Megane were his friends Perm, Chibi, and Kakugari as usual. "You've been so hard to find lately."

"You've been trying to find her?" Ken asked. "That almost sounds like stalker talk there."

"We got something for you too Ken." Kakugari said, reaching into his pockets and pulling out a ticket. "There's a car show going on, and since you like cars we thought you'd enjoy it."

"Sweet." Ken said, taking the ticket. "I better go check this out. Later Lum." He said before walking away.

Lum looked confused and a bit uncomfortable now while Megane and his group looked eager. Had they bothered being more attentive, they would have noticed Ken wasn't heading towards his home.

"I'm glad we got the chance to be alone with you Lum. I'm Megane, a classmate of Ataru and your greatest admirer." The bispectacled boy introduced.

"Ah, you're one of those guys that always gives Darling trouble." Lum responded, remembering what Ataru had told her about his class after she tried to hang around him at school.

"Oh, like he's so perfect himself." Chibi remarked sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

"Lum, Ataru's been lying to you. He's not as good as you think he is and he's trying to poison your mind about those of us who truly are fitting for your affections." Megane insisted.

Lum narrowed her eyes lightly. "And why should I believe someone I've never even met on this?"

"Because everyone in our class will back us up on this. Ataru is a terrible person, the last person in the world you'd want to spend time with." Megane stated. "He peeps on girls, sleeps in class, mooches off of others, and he even said he'd like to have a harem of women."

Lum's expression was difficult to read, but she didn't look pleased. Taking this as a sign that she was unhappy with Ataru, Megane continued. "He has no future other than being a bum. At best he'll end up one of those man-children adults who refuses to mentally grow up and stop being a kid. You cannot be happy with him. So it's in your best interest to ditch him and be with me."

"No, I'm better for you than this four-eyes is." Kakugari claimed.

Megane glared. "In your dreams. You look like a shaved ape."

"I'm the right one for Lum." Perm said.

"No me." Chibi interjected.

"It's me and that's final!" Megane almost yelled.

"Like hell it is!" The three yelled back, and they started to fight each other.

Lum shook her head in disapproval. Looking behind the quarreling boys to see Ataru coming their way with Ken behind him. Ataru was looking over what alien he wanted to become, and Lum subtly shook her head no. He looked unhappy, but obeyed. She just walked away, leaving the four boys to keep fighting among themselves.

"You're still going to use it aren't you?" Ken whispered when Lum had her back to him. He knew right away that Megane's group offering him tickets like that was bad news, a clear attempt to get him away from Lum for their own gain. So he decided to go along with it and let Ataru handle this his way. That way in the off-chance the ticket was actually worth anything he still got it and Ataru got to have some fun too.

"Damn right." Ataru said, finding a new alien and activating the device. Red hard welts appeared on his arms while the skin between them turned bright red. He got taller and his body more adult, and when he finished he looked like a man made of burning molten rock.

"Man, evolution works weird on other planets." Ken said, backing away into an alley since the area close to his friend was too hot for his tastes. It was like standing close to an open oven.

The burning alien looked at itself like it was surprised that it wasn't self-cremating. At the same time the sight of a burning being drew the attention of the fighting teens, and they got scared.

"What... what the heck is that?" Chibi asked, hiding behind Kakugari.

"World's most pissed off furnace." The transformed Ataru answered. Fire gathered at his hands on subconscious command, and testing the abilities of this form he put his hands forward and let the flames shoot forward, aiming at the ground.

The group of four screamed in terror and ran off scattered.

"Whoa, try to be a little more careful with those heat blasts." Ken advised.

"Hmm... heat blast. I like the sound of that. I'll call this one Heatblast." The walking inferno said.

"Now what are you going to do?" Ken asked. "You can't walk around like this."

"Umm... I didn't think that part thru." Heatblast confessed.

"You really need to be more careful with this thing Ataru."

* * *

><p>Back on Neptune Oyuki was overseeing progress on repairing Lum's UFO. Fortunately the damage wasn't extensive, but personally she wouldn't use it for long trips anytime soon.<p>

"Your Majesty, there's a visitor for you." One of the ice queen's servants told her. "A rather strange one, but he claims to be connected to your childhood friend Lum."

"Let me see them." Oyuki said, following the servant to a more appropriate meeting place.

When she saw the visitor Oyuki quickly saw what the servant meant by 'strange'. The visitor was a young oni child, rather unexpected. "Hello? You are?"

"My name is Ten, I'm Lum's cousin. We're all worried for her. Why hasn't she come home?"

Oyuki arched an eyebrow. "You're not supposed to be here, are you?"

"What? Why do you say that?" He asked.

"Because no one would send you in their place to ask me this. Especially when I already told her father of the situation. You're a confused child who just wants answers, and is disobeying adults to get them." Oyuki said.

"But... but I'm a good boy." Ten countered meekly.

"Doesn't look like it to me." Oyuki stated. "But I understand your concern. Allow me to alleviate them before sending you home."

* * *

><p>"Strange, a creature that appears to be a genuine silicon-based lifeform." A man on Earth said while watching a video of Diamondhead online. He clicked on another link and saw footage of Onitaru and Lum training together in an empty lot. "And these lifeforms seem to have authentic examples of telekinesis. It seems Japan has been attracting a lot of extraterrestrial attention lately. My research would be taken to levels beyond all others on this planet if I could get some samples of alien DNA. The only hard part will be getting there."<p> 


	7. Chapter 7

'Finally, some peace and quiet.' Ataru said to himself as he laid down in his futon reading a manga while wearing his pajamas. Lum was out of the house, called out for a reason he barely heard her say clearly, like she had been in a rush to leave, and he was able to convince his parents he was feeling under the weather. 'I just know if I went to school today, with Megane and his croonies telling everyone how some fire alien was trying to keep them from Lum.'

He glanced outside, seeing a grey sky and heard some wind, the kind of weather people could get colds in if they weren't careful. Fortunately that helped convince his parents he was unwell. 'I dread ever being sick again now that I have this.' Ataru told himself, glancing at the omnitrix. 'Maybe I can catch some alien diseases now, and who knows how earth germs affect these creatures.'

There was a knock at his door. "Ataru? Some of your friends are here to pay a visit." His mother was heard.

Ataru groaned. 'Since she didn't say Ken or Shinobu's name I've got an idea who's here.'

The door opened and in came Megane, followed by the other three always with him. "Lum?" He asked, looking around the room right away.

Ataru sat up in his futon, not willing to be on his back around them. "She's off-world at the moment."

Kakugari frowned. "You're trying to keep her away from us."

"If you guys can get to Neptune be my guests." Ataru commented.

"Neptune?" All four repeated.

Ataru nodded. "Something about her UFO I think. She was in a big hurry to go, but without her ship I don't know how she got there. But she definitely said Neptune."

"There's life on Neptune?" Perm asked. "So maybe there is life on Mars too. Maybe NASA's just checking the wrong places."

"We're not here for Martians or Neptunians, we're here for Lum." Megane stated.

"Well she's not here, so you wasted your time." Ataru told them.

Megane narrowed his eyes. "You seem to want us to leave. That can only mean she's going to show up any second and you're trying to get rid of us."

Ataru rolled his eyes. "Or it means I'm not in the mood for people who want nothing to do with me hanging around my house like it's an airport."

"Hey, anyone hear something?" Chibi asked.

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"It's just the wind." Kakugari told his short companion.

"Wait, I'm feeling a draft." Ataru said, shivering and covering himself with his blanket. With the others bundled up they weren't as affected.

"Is a window open?" Perm asked.

Megane looked to the closet. "No, it's... coming from here?" Holding his hand by the edges of the door he felt some definite wind coming from the other side. And it was a nastily cold wind at that, making him withdraw his hand. "What do you have in here Ataru?"

"Same stuff anyone keeps in a closet. Why"?

Megane grabbed the door. "Something is in here." He pulled it open, and all of a sudden there was an avalanche. Loads of snow poured out like sand in an hourglass, filling the room.

"What the hell?" Perm asked, shivering and trying to get as much out of the snow as possible.

"It's like we opened to door to Narnia." Megane complained, rubbing his hands together to keep them warm.

"Oh dear. I'm sorry about this." A woman's voice was heard. Everyone looked to see a regal-looking pale woman with light purple hair in a ponytail wearing a white kimono standing within the closet. "My friend Lum told me this would be a good place to put some extra snow, but I must have messed up the coordinates and unloaded it inside the residence instead of outside."

"You know Lum?" All four of Megane's group quickly asked.

"Are you a Neptunian?" Perm added.

"Indeed. I am Oyuki, ruling queen of the planet Neptune. Are either of you Ataru Moroboshi?"

"That would be me." Ataru spoke up, getting a coat on to stay warm. 'Great, now I might get sick for real.'

Oyuki smiled at him. "Lum has told me a lot about you."

"With all due respect Your Majesty, most of what she tells you is biased and incomplete." Megane warned.

Ataru frowned. "And what you say about me isn't?"

"I prefer to learn for myself rather than let others think for me." Oyuki told both boys. "I will send some workers over to clear out this snow. In the meantime, allow me to take you to my palace until the job is done."

"Sounds good to me." Ataru said.

Oyuki turned and walked into the closet, which seemed to now be a lot bigger on the inside. So big the other side couldn't be seen. Ataru followed her and Megane's group followed him.

"Who invited you?" Ataru asked.

"We're not staying in there when there's that much snow. Besides, this way we can be the first humans to set foot on another planet." Perm claimed.

"Sorry young man, but humans have been on planets other than Earth before in the past." Oyuki told the teen.

"Really?" Perm asked. "Can you tell us what's really in Area 51 then?"

"I'm sorry, I know of no such place." The Neptunian replied. "We're almost to my home. Watch your step."

A hole appeared before her that showed a white landscape on the other side, and Oyuki jumped in.

"So this is it, we're about to be on an alien world." Megane said, sounding like he was trying to document the experience. "You first Ataru." He then added, shoving the boy thru the hole.

"Hey!" Ataru yelled, falling thru the hole and landing facefirst in more snow. 'Damn, now I know I'm going to be sick for real.'

"Darling!"

Ataru pulled his face out of the snow, and saw Lum. But this time she wasn't wearing her usual tiger skin bikini. Now she wore a long-sleeve tiger stripe shirt that still showed a good amount of cleavage and midriff, and tiger stripe pants along with her usual boots. "Hi Lum. Know anywhere I can get warm and dry?"

"Of course." She said, helping him up.

"Lum!" Megane's group yelled as they jumped thru the portal at the sight of her. "We've missed you."

"And you are?" She asked, not knowing them at all. Those words froze them in place more than the cold did.

"Oh look. Men." Several Neptunian women with shovels said upon seeing the four teens.

Megane looked and saw they were getting a lot of positive attention, and couldn't help but soak it in. "Boys, I think we're going to be popular here."

"But what about Lum?" Kakugari asked.

"We must be as exotic to these women as Lum is to us. To deny them would be the same as Lum denying us. So let us indulge them for a brief time if nothing else." Megane rationalized, then walked up to the women. "Ladies, how are you this fine day?"

"Much better now that you're here." One of them said.

"Come with me you two." Oyuki said to Lum and Ataru.

"You sure it's okay to leave these four?" Ataru asked, seeing the women surround the four teens.

"Oh I wouldn't worry. Those girls just want them to shovel snow for them. I say let them." Lum said, sticking close to Ataru to keep him warm. Considering how cold he was, especially since he was walking barefoot in snow while wearing pajamas he was in no condition to argue.

Oyuki led them thru a town, allowing Ataru to see some of Neptunian culture. He saw the roads were made of ice and elevated above the snow, and the buildings all looked like igloos. The only building that didn't looked like a sweet potato standing on end with both ends frozen in place, attached to a large ice crescent. People were walking about, doing normal daily stuff, and Ataru quickly noticed something.

"Hey Lum, where are the men?"

"Most men on Neptune have to go off-world to work, leaving us with mostly women." Oyuki answered for the oni. "Hence why those shovelers were so eager to have your companions work with them."

"Wait, they go off-world?" Ataru asked. 'That sounds really weird.'

"What brings you here anyway Darling?" Lum asked.

"Your friend here dumped snow right in my room." He told her.

Lum blushed. "Oh, I'm so sorry. She needed to get rid of some snow, so I thought if there was some at our house we could have some fun with it. Her aim on where to put it must have been a little off."

"Why would she have to get rid of snow? It's everywhere so shouldn't she be used to it?" Ataru asked.

"Snow is Neptune's greatest export. Lots of planets that are too warm to get snow on their own buy it so they can have some fun with it, putting it in specially climatized fun centers, before it melts." Lum explained.

"And they don't worry about running out someday?" Ataru asked, knowing that even for a cold planet like Neptune, one he was still trying to figure out how he was still alive on, couldn't have an infinite amount of snow.

"Oh no. Neptunian snow is like coral, it actually grows like it's alive."

Ataru's eyes widened. "But then, isn't putting it on other planets a biohazard?"

Lum shook her head. "On other planets it usually melts faster than it can grow, and then it mixes with the local water and becomes just plain water. There's no danger involved."

"Alright, then how exactly was it brought to my room thru my closet?"

"I can explain that inside." Oyuki said when they reached the sweet potato shaped building. She opened the door and they went in, and Ataru immediately felt warmer. "Let's carry this on in my personal quarters. This is just the entrance hall."

Oyuki led them up a few stairs until they got to the resident section, in a room where a maid was getting a fire going in a hearth.

"Fire inside an icy building?" Ataru asked.

"Only the outer parts are made of ice. Better to withstand the weather. The interiors of our buildings are made of stone and metal to reinforce the structure and allow us to stay warm." Oyuki explained.

Ataru quickly went to the hearth and sat down with his hands and feet close to the flame. "Ah, this feels good. I thought I'd get frostbite."

The maid went to Oyuki and started to help her take off her kimono, which got Ataru's attention. "Look at me, not her Darling." Lum said with much insistence, making him look to her.

"Umm... nice outfit." He said, to make her feel better.

The oni girl smiled. "Thanks. I feel so overdressed, but I need it here."

"Strange thing is it makes you look more appealing." Ataru confessed. "I don't understand why, but somehow seeing you wear something other than your bikini makes you look more..." He couldn't think of the right word, but Lum accepted his praise and leaned against him.

"I hope my attire isn't repulsive by your world's standards." Oyuki said, drawing the earthling's attention again. Now she wore an outfit that looked like a yellow one piece swimsuit with a cleavage dip low enough to show her belly button.

"Aren't you cold in that?" Ataru asked.

"No, I'm fine. Only the kimono is for outdoor temperatures." The queen of Neptune said before sitting on the other side of the hearth in a pose that almost made her look like she was trying to get Ataru's approval. "Lum, shouldn't you see to your other companion?"

"Oh yeah, I just hope he's not giving your pet yeti trouble." Lum said before leaving.

"You have a pet yeti?" Ataru asked.

"Yes, I do." Oyuki admitted, scooting closer to him a little. "So then, while we're alone tell me about yourself. I'm curious about the guy who got Lum's attention."

"Funny, I'm curious about how you know her." He replied.

"We go way back, but you're new and more interesting. So, what is it about you that Lum finds so irresistable?"

"Well I'm sure she's told you about me." He said as she scooted a little closer, making him a little uncomfortable but not enough to call attention to it.

"Yes, but I prefer hearing from the source directly. Besides, there's no need to be in a hurry, your room will take some time to clear. So relax."

"Well, I'm not sure what to say. I'm just a normal but unpopular guy back home."

"Normal is relative. I know what's normal for my world but not yours. But I hope to learn, I believe it's time the two planets of our solar system learn to be open with each other." Oyuki said.

"I'm sure people on my planet would be eager for it. This kind of disproves everything we believe about Neptune." Ataru noted.

"Oh? What does Earth say about us?" Oyuki asked.

"For starters that no form of life could ever exist here. Not just because it's so cold, but because it's supposed to be a gas giant planet with no solid surface to stand on. Yet here I am, not freezing to death, not crushed by the gravity, and able to breathe comfortably. The scientific community would see this as the greatest discovery since splitting the atom."

Oyuki chuckled. "Funny, for a time we believed your planet was unbearably hot and made of clay. Also, when we first saw Lum's planet, we thought it had mountains packed with gold and jewels as common as rocks all for the taking. Of course that was back during the days when we were still new to space exploration and treasure hunting was a big motive for going off world."

"Speaking of off-world, why do you have all your men go to space? Doesn't that affect things here?" Ataru said.

"It's so they can find work." Oyuki told him simply.

"But doesn't that hurt your own economy?"

"It's so they can find work." Oyuki repeated.

Ataru arched an eyebrow, confounded by her repeat. "But then why only the men? You clearly have women working here too and they admitted they needed help so isn't having half your population away hurting you?"

"It's so they can find work." Oyuki repeated again, then winced like something just stung her. "Ouch."

"Are you okay?" Ataru asked.

"I'm fine. Please change the subject, it bores me." The ice queen told him.

'Something's not right, it's almost like something is forcing her to avoid the issue.' The earthling noted. 'Lum would understand this better. He then stood up. "This is embarrassing, but could you tell me where a restroom is?"

"Oh, down the hall and to the right, second door. If you see a yeti you've gone too far." She told him, then watched him leave the room. 'Strange, Lum said he was rather interested in women who resemble his own species. Am I not sexy by Earth standards?'

* * *

><p>'Something is not right about this place. I gotta talk to Lum.' Ataru said, looking for the oni girl. 'Where can I find her?'<p>

There was a loud boom down one of the halls, making him wobble for a moment. 'I'm really hoping she's not down that way, but I get the feeling that's exactly where she is.'

He headed down the hall, hoping there would be no more booms. There was a roar though, not exactly a better noise, but he didn't stop. Not until he reached a large door. Pausing to take a deep breath, he slowly opened it.

On the other side he saw Lum hovering above her UFO looking angry, and in front of her was a smaller oni boy trying to get away from a large white furry creature Ataru could only call a yeti.

"Help me Lum!" The boy screamed.

"I told you not to breathe fire in his face Ten! Maybe now you'll learn to listen!" She yelled back, though she looked ready to intervene if the boy was in real danger.

'Maybe now's a bad time.' Ataru thought carefully. 'I'm ready to go home where things make sense again.'

"Darling?" Lum asked when she saw him, and flew over to him. "What brings you here?"

"Lum, I think something's wrong with your friend."

The oni girl looked surprised to hear this. "Darling, how can you say such a thing?"

"I tried asking her a question and she kept refusing to answer, almost like she wasn't allowed to."

Lum frowned and put her hands on her hips. "Well maybe you were asking her something inappropriate." The sound of Ten yelling made her look away briefly. "Now if you don't mind, I need to help my cousin. Get in my ship, and stay there until we leave. I don't want you offending my friend anymore."

"But Lum-" He tried to reason, but the oni flew away, ending the discussion. 'Great, so how do I get her attention now? Something is up with her friend, I just know it. But Lum is too trusting to consider it. What do I do?'

With nothing coming to mind, Ataru went inside the UFO and waited for his roommate to be ready to leave.

* * *

><p>"Please tell me we can go home now." Chibi pleaded when he and the others were allowed to stop shoveling snow. It was evening and the women had left by now, and the four men were sitting on piles of snow, their whole bodies numb.<p>

"Don't worry, our dear Lum would never forget about us, her true admirers." Megane said, trying his hardest to pretend he wasn't cold.

All four failed to see a UFO take to the air and go into space behind them, disappearing from sight and heading to a pre-arranged warp point to take them to Earth and bypass Vilgax's ship completely.


	8. Chapter 8

_Japanese language: Normal_

_English language: Italics_

"Damn you Ataru!"

The young Moroboshi turned around and saw four unfriendly but familiar faces. "What now Megane?"

"What now? What now?! You left us on Neptune you jerk!"

"Then how did you get back?" Ataru asked.

"That's not important! You left us on a frigid alien planet where we almost got turned into slaves!" Kakugari complained.

"So how did you get back?" Ataru asked curiously.

"You leave us behind and instead of apologizing all you can ask is how did we get back?" Perm asked, offended.

"Well it's your own fault for tagging along and showing up at my house just to see Lum." Ataru stated.

"Maybe so, but you still left us behind." Perm accused.

"And you wouldn't have done the same if the situation was reversed?" Ataru asked. "What I did was an accident and I am sorry, but you four would have done it intentionally to get to Lum. Which reminds me, if there's anyone you should blame it's Lum."

"Nonsense!" Megane refuted. "Our Lum would never abandon us!"

"What do you mean _your_ Lum?" The aforementioned oni girl asked angrily, floating behind the four teens.

Perm, Kakugari, and Chibi were nervous to have offended their icon, but Megane was no such thing. "My dear Lum, you must see that Ataru is a poor match for you."

"Oh? And you're better for me?" She asked, still frowning.

"Yes. Exactly." Megane said eagerly, starting to believe she was changing her mind.

"You're forgetting one very important thing." Lum claimed. "I don't want you."

"Just give me a chance!" Megane loudly begged.

"No give me a chance!" Kakugari begged too.

"Hey she should be with me!" Perm argued.

As expected the four boys got into a fistfight, causing them to ignore Ataru and Lum leaving them.

"Just who are those guys anyway?" Lum asked.

"Four losers in my class who think they love you because you arouse them." He answered simply. "And because you like me instead of them, that makes them not like me at all."

"That reminds me of someone I know." Lum noted. "Oh, before I forget, I have to tell you I'm getting some things for Ten."

"Why is he staying with us?" Ataru asked, not comfortable with the idea since the young boy immediately took a disliking to him.

"Because he came all this way to check up on me. I can't just send him back. Besides, his parents are a little preoccupied with their work so he usually is stuck with a robot babysitter. Not a healthy environment for a children."

"A robot babysitter?" Ataru repeated.

"Yeah, it's about as good an idea as it sounds." The oni girl claimed. "I won't be long, just showing him around and getting some things to help him feel more comfortable. Once that happens I'm sure he'll be less antagonistic to you Darling."

"Speaking of which, we really need to talk about your friend Oyuki." Ataru added, changing the subject.

Lum lightly frowned. "This again? I told you there's nothing to worry about."

"I'm serious Lum, I got a bad vibe when I was there." Ataru tried to convey.

Lum however was not interested. "I don't want to talk about it. I'll see you later." Without another word she flew off.

Ataru sighed and kept walking off. "What's wrong with her? I'm trying to help her and she brushes me off?"

"Hey Ataru!" Megane called, having finished the scuffle and catching up with the omnitrix holder. "Where's Lum?"

"Off on an errand. Shopping like girls like to do." He told them.

"Hey, what's with the crowd up ahead?" Perm asked, seeing something interesting.

All five of them looked ahead, seeing a standing outside a store entrance looking in like it was a zoo exhibit. The exterior had decorations like flags and a wreath, making it look like a grand opening of a new store, so some attention was reasonable, but why was everyone outside instead of inside.

"Looks like a new fast food joint." Ataru noted when they got closer, seeing the words Sukiyaki Hut above the door.

"Whoa is this for real?" Perm asked, pointing to a sign saying 'Jumbo Beefbowl Only 200 Yen'.

Ataru could already feel his mouth watering. "This I gotta see." He went up to the crowd. "'Cuse me, but are you in line?"

"Heck no, we're just watching." A man answered.

"Watching what?" Ataru asked. He got in close to see what was inside and facefaulted. "Oh please no!"

"What is it?" Megane asked, looking in and gasping in surprise. At the counter was Beast-Rei chowing down like he was trying to drive the store out of business.

"What is that thing?" Chibi asked.

"It's Rei." Ataru answered. "I'm outta here."

"You know this creature?" Megane asked.

The conversation caught Beast-Rei's attention, making him turn. He quickly recognized Ataru, and tried to grab him. He missed, so he then pounced, succeeding in pinning down the earth boy. Unable to free himself, Ataru had one option.

"Give this guy food! Anything!"

One of the waiters agreed and brought some more beefbowl. As expected Beast-Rei lost interest in Ataru and went back to eating.

"What is this?" Megane asked.

"Let's just say he wants Lum as much as you do." Ataru answered, getting up off the floor.

"What? There's no way some alien cow can get Lum!" Megane claimed.

Hearing the name, Beast-Rei took out a small pink thing from somewhere Ataru didn't want to think about and began blowing into it like it was a balloon. Surely enough it inflated, resulting in a half-lifesize doll version of Lum.

'He carries around a blow-up doll that resembles his ex-girlfriend? I think it's illegal to be this pathetic.' Ataru thought to himself.

"How dare you!" Megane angrily yelled. "No one gets away with defiling Lum! Not even an inflatable one!"

'Defending the honor of a balloon? I can't help but wonder if that's even more pathetic.' Ataru added, ignoring the ox-tiger's angry roar at the bispectacled teen. "Don't bother reasoning with him. As Lum puts it, he basically ate his own brain."

"How does she know him?" Perm asked, unable to see why Lum would spend time with this thing in front of him.

"Apparently they used to date." Ataru answered simply.

"What?" The four boys asked in shock. "Why would she do that?"

At that Beast-Rei began to change, as if to answer that himself.

"He's turning back to normal." Ataru pointed out.

"You mean he chose to look like that monster?" Megane asked. "How horrible is his true form then?"

You could practically hear his heart skip a beat when Rei's normal and handsome humanoid form was revealed.

"What the hell? He's not ugly at all." Megane asked, unable to comprehend this twist.

"He might even be better looking than us." Perm lamented.

"I guess looks really aren't everything after all." Kakugari stated, trying to make himself feel better since he knew he was no looker himself.

Rei snorted with a smile, as if eating the jealousy too. He then looked to Lum, only to see it deflating, making his smile deflate too. "Lum?"

"Wow, rejected by the balloon too. Burn." Ataru said with a laugh.

Naturally Rei got mad and changed into his animal form, bellowing a loud roar. And naturally Ataru decided he had been here long enough. He ran out of the shop and Beast-Rei went after him.

"This I gotta see." Megane said, somehow hoping to see Ataru get pummeled by the ox-tiger. But before he could head out, a hand was on his shoulder.

"Not so fast. Someone needs to pay the bill." An employee at the store told him.

"I've give you the Moroboshi address. He knows that animal so it's his responsibility."

* * *

><p>'I'm glad Ten's feeling better.' Lum told herself as her young cousin was looking in shop windows eagerly. 'All he did was ask me to go back to Uru, like a broken record. If I can get him to realize this place isn't so bad he might feel better about staying.'<p>

While she also suspected it in the back of her her mind, Lum loved her cousin too much to admit that part of why he wanted her to go back home was because he didn't want her around Ataru. Ten was too young to understand affection, all he knew was that Ataru was a rival for Lum's attention and he didn't like that. Naturally he'd want to remove the opposition, but Lum was hoping to get him to accept Ataru's home if not Ataru himself.

"Ah good, this planet has tv too." Ten said, seeing a monitor showing a earth tv show. According to the title screen it was called Weird World.

"What did you think? That this was basically another Vulpin?" Lum asked, referencing what was famously known as a garbage dump planet of the galaxy.

"No, but it's still primitive." Ten said, not taking his eyes off the show and it's semi-gothic host talking about the paranormal.

"I admit it's no Uru or even Galvan Prime but it's still a nice place to be." Lum said, and as if to challenge her there was a loud crashing sound down the street and some screaming here.

"What was that?" Ten asked, curious yet nervous, looking towards the sound of the crash.

'Darling I hope this isn't your doing.' Lum told herself, slightly narrowing her eyes.

Another crash that almost demolished a building occurred and the source could be seen. The most notable thing was the presence of a gigantic frog or toad of some kind, about as big as Rei's animal form. Aside from its size, the only unusual things about this amphibian was the fact it had four red eyes and two dull-point bull-like horns. Riding it was what looking like a normal human with sickly pale green-tinted skin and long white hair, wearing a horned helmet with wires connecting it to some kind of mechanism worn on his torso. Red sunglasses covered his eyes and black latex gloves covered his hands and forearms.

'That's not Darling.' Lum thought, afraid and taking Ten into her arms to keep him safe.

The man said something Lum could not comprehend, mainly due to the fact that the people screaming drowned him out. But she got the feeling he was looking at her. He horns glowed red and the frog reacted as if being commanded, jumping towards her. Lum reacted in a normal expected way, getting into the air and flying off.

'I need Darling. I don't know if this is normal for his planet or not so I better leave this to him.'

* * *

><p>'Dammit, there are too many people around. I can't use the watch like this.' Ataru thought as he tried to get somewhere private to deal with the ox-tiger chasing him. But people were running everywhere, like it was Christmas time and all the stores were having 99% off sales. Ataru couldn't get any privacy even if he went into a restroom at this point.<p>

But the weird thing was it looked like some of the panicking people were heading _towards_ him before changing directions at seeing Beast-Rei.

"Darling?!"

"Lum?" Ataru asked, hearing her yell but not seeing her anywhere.

"Darling!" Lum yelled again, this time coming into view from above and looking bothered. She looked all the more bothered when she saw what he was trying to get away from. "No! Not Rei too!"

'Too?' Ataru asked himself.

Right away Beast-Rei practically jumped towards the flying oni when he saw her. But Lum was too nimble for him to grab and effectively evaded him, getting close to Ataru.

"Darling, I think there's another problem going on." She told him, flying alongside him as he ran.

"What kind of-?" He started, only to see the giant frog heading their way too. "Never mind."

Fortunately for them, the frog and it's rider shifted interest from Lum to Beast-Rei. The rider said something but no one was paying attention. The frog attacked with its tongue, hitting Beast-Rei and getting his attention. Beast-Rei bellowed and charged at the frog, who met him head on. Beast-Rei was able to grab the giant amphibian with greater ease, and amazingly enough lifted it, making the rider yell out incoherently. Ignoring them, Beast-Rei threw the frog, putting enough distance between them for him to resume going after Lum.

"We got to get rid of this guy." Ataru said, then got an idea. "Hey Lum, I got an idea. Follow my lead."

He came to a stop, confusing the oni girl, but luckily it made Beast-Rei stop and return to his normal form. "Lum!" He said, holding out his wallet.

"Don't tell me you think you can buy my affection back!" Lum yelled, offended.

"I think he's trying to ask you out. Which only works to prove my point to come." Ataru said with a grin. "Hey Rei, if you really want to be with Lum so badly, why don't you just actually ask her out like a proper man?"

Lum grinned coyly, now realizing his plan. "Yes Rei, maybe if you actually articulated your request properly I would go out with you again."

Rei tensed, also seeing the trap. But he chuckled and pulled out a tiger-striped scroll and unfurled it, at the same time he put his arm around Lum's shoulder. She didn't resist, figuring this would only make his folly worse, and Ataru crossed his arms, waiting to see the male oni embarrass himself.

"W-will you... cook for me... for the rest of your life?" Rei asked, reading some Urusian text.

Ataru dropped his jaw at this pathetic attempt to woo a woman, but before he could say anything the frog's tongue came and hit Rei in the back on the head, knocking him out.

"Is that thing normal?" Lum asked, getting closer to the boy she did care about.

"Not even close."

"Then we can do something about it. Let's find you somewhere to use the omnitrix." Lum said, trying to lead him somewhere private now that the streets were cleared of panicked people.

"By the way Lum, is what Rei said a normal request on your world?" Ataru asked.

"Not at all. It's just him saying he wants my food on a daily basis." Lum answered bitterly.

"So basically he proposed using cue cards but he wants you as a cook more than a wife?" Ataru asked.

"With a language scroll meant for first graders as the cue cards." Lum replied.

Behind them Rei morphed back to his ox-tiger form and fought back with the frog, with the rider shooting red lightning out of his helmet horns at him, aiming for the head. The effects were very different than Lum's lightning; while Beast-Rei did seem hurt, it felt more like a headache than electric shock. Then everything went blank for him and he just stood there like a drone.

The pale-skinned rider grinned. _"This creature is marvelous. A genuine alien life form for me to take, and capable of shifting between humanoid and bestial forms. This will make my genetic manipulation research get centuries ahead of everyone else on earth. I could even potentially make the stem cell obsolete. But I better get the female alien too for additional DNA."_

The red horns glowed again, and Beast-Rei charged after Lum, with the frog and rider following.

Lum and Ataru went to Tomobiki Park, where the only ones around where dating couples off doing their own things unaware of the events outside the park. Here it's easier for Ataru to find the privacy he needs.

"You better change now." Lum suggested.

Ataru nodded. He activated the omnitrix and looked for a form to use, mainly looking for Fourarms. Finding it, he pressed, but the transformation did not go as planned. His muscles and veins bulged as expected, but instead of his skin turning red he sprouted orange fur all over himself. His limbs and spine elongated, and his center of balance shifted requiring him to be on all fours. He grew claws yet his eyes diminished until he was fully blind and his nostrils moved to his neck, becoming gill-like in appearance instead. Once it finished he roared like a lion.

"A Vulpimancer?" Lum asked, not expecting a blind feral creature that evolved in a poisoned environment. So far all of Ataru's alien forms had been based on sentient races, not wild ones.

"What did he just do?" Ten asked, having been unaware Ataru's watch was anything other than a watch.

"He has the omnitrix, it lets him transform." Lum answered as Ataru tried getting used to his changed senses.

"In some kind of... wild orange mutt?" Ten asked. "It doesn't even have eyes." To prove his point he took out one of his toys and threw it at the new alien, hitting the side of the head and making Ataru snarl. "See? What good is this thing?"

Before Lum could defend her love interest, Beast-Rei burst thru the trees like an angry bull. Lum wanted to attack, but Ten was clinging to her so she couldn't risk using electricity and thus hurting him too. He wasn't as lightning-proof as she was after all, especially since he was a pyromancer oni.

"Do something wild mutt!" Ten ordered in a panic.

The so-dubbed Wildmutt couldn't see Beast-Rei, but he could hear and smell him, and in some way the human part of his mind couldn't comprehend, he perceived a sort of heat vision showing him a large red silhouette surrounded by dark blue trees and stone. He roared and pounced, and Beast-Rei went towards him, yet completely went around him and go right to a kiosk selling dango and started scarfing down. The couples in the park shrieked and ran at this.

_"What?"_ The pale-skinned man asked while seeing this. _"I told you to get the female! Not get food!"_ His helmet glowed again, and Beast-Rei took the kiosk with him, despite the owner yelling.

Wildmutt jumped on Beast-Rei's back, getting into his blind spot and biting the back of his neck. The skin wasn't torn but it made Beast-Rei mad and act like a bull at a rodeo. And Wildmutt was having a hard time holding on, like a bull rider at a rodeo.

'That guy is involved somehow.' Lum thought, looking at the man on the frog, trying to lead his ride to her. 'I have to do something, but how do I not put Ten at risk?'

"Ten, hide in a tree and stay there." Lum told him.

"What? Why?"

"Just do as I say." Lum told him in a no-nonsense manner.

The young boy was nervous, but nodded and hid in the foliage. Once she saw this, Lum looked away back to the frog-rider. The horns on the helmet glowed, making it an easier target for her, while Beast-Rei tried to shake off Wildmutt and the frog tried to attack with its tongue. It managed to hit the blind alien in the side, making Wildmutt growl in pain and grip Beast-Rei tighter, making the ox-tiger bellow.

'I gotta stop this now.' Lum thought, charging up her lightning, then fired a strong bolt. However, Beast-Rei recklessly jumped, unaware of what she was doing. As a result, he got hit by the bolt and Wildmutt got electrocuted too via contact. The only ones not hurt were ironically the ones it was intended for.

"Darling!" Lum screamed, darting over to the downed Vulpimancer who was now on the ground twitching. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." She wept, only to get wrapped up by the frog's tongue.

_"Aha! Finally got you."_ The pale frog-rider said, commanding the frog to hold the oni girl in its mouth without swallowing.

_"Who are you?"_ Lum asked, recognizing the language.

A weird thing about Earth languages was that out of all of them, there were three of them that were spoken offworld as well. Xenolinguists were unclear as to why, some debated on whether or not the languages originated on Earth or came to Earth. Either way it made communication with humans easier. The three languages were English, both British and American, Japanese, primarily the Honshu dialect, and French.

Lum was not as well versed in English as she was in Japanese, but she knew even to understand and converse in a simple way.

_"Ah good, you can speak my language. Not important, but could make my research easier."_

_"I not know what you want from me, but you get this instead."_ Lum threatened in broken English, charging up her whole body and electrocuting the giant mutant frog. The amphibian spasmed but sadly like most frogs it had a hard time spitting out what was in its mouth. She had to bite and shock more to force her way out.

When she was out, the frog was collapsed on the ground, with the rider looking distressed. _"Bioelectrics that have evolved to be weaponized to such a degree. Impressive."_

_"What you want?"_ Lum asked, hovering between him and Wildmutt but ignoring Beast-Rei.

_"My dear specimen, I am merely a simple scientist trying to give Mother Nature a helping handle in helping animals survive in a human-dominated planet. With your alien DNA I will succeed and prove everyone who doubted me wrong. The world will know the name Dr. Animo when man is no longer running this planet."_

Lum frowned and arched an eyebrow at the same time, a rather odd expression to look at. _"I admit I not the best at this language, but did you say you want kill own kind?"_

_"Not kill. Improve. Evolution has gotten stagnant for man and animal. I intend to change that." _The man calling himself Dr. Animo clarified.

'I get the feeling this guy doesn't understand evolution as much as he thinks he does.' Lum told herself. _"Well you not getting anything from me or Darling. And even though I not like Rei, I not let you have him either."_

_"You can't stop me girl."_ Animo said, commanding the frog to get back up.

Lum went over to Wildmutt, who was scrambling to his feet, and she hovered over him. _"Yes I can."_ She said to Animo, firing a bolt of lightning at the man's horned helmet. The bolt destroyed it, and the frog froze for a moment, like it just realized it didn't have to take orders.

_"You fool! Do you realize what you've done?!"_ Animo yelled, outraged and feeling the damage to his headgear.

Lum ignored him and looked to a recovered Beast-Rei, who looked like he didn't know what to do next. "Hey Rei! That guy there has candy in his pockets!" She said while pointing to Animo.

It worked like a charm. Beast-Rei charged at Animo like a mad monster. The giant frog, no longer having its mind controlled, was able to react under its normal flight-over-fight instinct and jumped away in a panic, chased by the ox-tiger. Animo had no choice but to go along with the ride.

The omnitrix timed out and Ataru returned to normal. "What the heck was that?"

"I'm not sure, but I think that was a human. One who wants the omnitrix." Lum answered.

"Just what I need." Ataru muttered.

"Lum?" Ten asked, coming down from the tree. "Is it safe?"

"For now, but we should go home before that guy comes back."

Ataru chose not to argue, and the trio went back home. Only to be confronted by Kinsho.

"Ataru! What is the meaning of this?" She asked, holding up a piece of paper with the word 'Bill' stamped across the top like some kind of joke.

"No idea." He admitted.

"Someone showed up and said some kind of alien nearly ate everything and left without paying. And you were mentioned by name. So what is the meaning of this?" Kinsho repeated, angrier this time.

"Great, this must be because of Rei. And that jerk Megane made us get stuck with the charge." Ataru groaned.

"Your father and I aren't paying for this. If you want to be around aliens all the time you have to pay the expenses." Kinsho demanded.

Ataru sighed. "Fine, I'll make some diamonds. You happy?"

"It's a start."


	9. Chapter 9

"So how are things going for you and Lum?" Ken asked when he and Ataru walked home after school.

"Hectic to say the least. She's got her kid cousin moved in too but we don't really have any room for him. And he's not exactly well-behaved. He literally has the word 'brat' in his name." Ataru answered, referring to the fact that according to Lum Ten's full name was Jariten Invader.

"Moved in? What about his parents?" Ken asked.

"As Lum puts it, he's got a robot looking after him most of the time. She wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even know he had left the planet."

"So he just wants attention from parents that felt they had other priorities." Ken mused. "Got to say I can sympathize. My parent's neglect is why I'm here in the first place. I did a lot of stuff and got into a lot of trouble just to get them to remember I was their responsibility."

"Well at least you couldn't breathe fire or came armed with who-knows-what." Ataru commented.

"No, but I could do other dangerous stuff." Ken replied. "Well, my turn's coming up. See you later man."

"Bye Ken." Ataru said, waving as the two friends parted ways. A gust of wind came, making him shiver and clutch his coat close, and he looked around to see if something had showed up to attack him again. Luckily the coast was clear. "Huh, I could sure use Heatblast now." He wouldn't though, not with other people and little kids still out walking around. "Or something warm for dinner."

He saw his house and walked inside, glad to be where it was warm. "I'm home."

The very first thing he saw was Cherry's expressionless face. It made Ataru have a mini-panic and collapse.

"What are you doing here?!" He yelled, knowing the monk was never invited in.

"I've come to say goodbye boy."

Ataru perked up. "Did I hear that right?"

Cherry nodded solemnly. "I'm afraid fate has decreed we will never meet again."

"Yahoo!" Ataru cheered, rushing deeper into his with his arms joyfully in the air.

Cherry could only tense his lips. "Poor child, so unaware."

"Mom!" The teen boy said as he burst into the kitchen, where his mother was washing dishes. "We need to celebrate!"

"Why?" She asked.

"Cherry's leaving! For good!"

Kinshou gasped and smiled. "Really? We do need to celebrate. I'll make us sukiyaki for dinner."

Ataru's mouth began to water. "Sounds perfect."

"Lum's upstairs. Go tell her." Kinshou suggested. Ataru nodded and went upstairs, opening the door to his room.

"About time you showed up Darling." The oni girl said once she saw him. She was dressed in different attire this time. She sported a horned helmet, a bra-like top that had straps this time, a mini-skirt, bracelets, and a cape connected to her shoulder straps. The only thing similar to her normal attire was her boots and the tiger stripe theme on all of it.

"What are you wearing? Some kind of superhero outfit." Ataru asked.

"No time to explain. We have to hurry." She insisted, grabbing his wrist careful to make sure he couldn't use the omnitrix against her.

"But I can't leave. Mom's going to make sukiyaki tonight." Ataru protested, but it didn't stop her from picking him up and dragging him to her UFO.

"You'll have to settle for leftovers. We got somewhere more important to be." Lum told him in a no-nonsense tone.

Outside Cherry saw the literal alien abduction. "Like I said boy, we'll never meet again. Too bad you didn't bother listening to why."

Once the duo was inside Lum was quick to have them leave orbit. Very quick, like she could not leave fast enough. It wasn't until they passed the moon that she let herself relax in her pilot chair. "Ah, we made it. I was so worried."

"Worried about what?" Ataru asked.

"How could you forget Darling? There's some maniac in orbit around Earth that would gun me down if he could. Even with the new warp drive installed I had to plan very _very_ carefully just to find the best window of opportunity to get away. And honestly I can't expect the same luck on the trip back unless we take the long way to descend."

"Oh right." Ataru said, pacing a little since he was uncomfortable. "So where are we going? And when did you get a fishtank?" He asked, seeing an aquarium in the UFO he had not seen before. Inside were tiger-striped creatures that looked most similar to gobi fish.

"Oh that? That's just a little decor to give us something other than stars to look at. That and the DVR. Gotta have videos and music in space, we get so little reception out here." Lum explained, swiveling in her chair and crossing her arms behind her head. "As for where we're going, it's a holiday back home. Setsubun."

"Setsubun? But that's not for months?" Ataru countered, sitting on a couch that was newly installed for comfort.

"I suppose our version is different than yours. It's a time we of the oni get together to contest against our ally race the fukunogami."

"Then why am I here? I'm not either."

"Well, you're connected to me, and Daddy really wants to see what kind of a man you are." Lum answered. "You see, as far as he knows, we are married. So that-"

"Wait, you never corrected him?" Ataru asked, cutting her off.

Lum frowned a bit at being interrupted. "Have you _met_ my father? Does he look or sound like the kind of man you can just say 'you're wrong' to?"

Ataru shivered a little from the memory of the gigantic alien. "Yeah you're right. I think he's bigger than Fourarms. But you're his daughter. Surely he'd listen to you."

"True, but my mom's the one that's easy to talk to. Dad's... when he gets excited or angry it's hard to get a word in edgewise. But as long as he thinks we're married, he'll let me stay with you. If he finds out otherwise, he might even try some kind of matchmaking thing to get me away from you."

"I see..." He said, trailing off. 'So does this mean she really has no interest in me deep down? She's just using me to avoid being set up by her father?'

"Well we got some time before we get to out destination. Want to watch something?" Lum asked. He didn't say anything, so she took that as silent approval, and went to the couch next to him. Using a remote control, she had a monitor appear and rather away a video started playing.

A video that made both teens turn beet red in seconds.

"Wait, wrong video! I forgot that was there!" Lum said loudly and defensively, turning it off and hitting the eject button. From a slot above the tv emerged a dvd.

"Was that... alien porn?" Ataru asked. "You watch porn?"

Lum growled, her face still red. "This never happened. Got it?"

All he could do was nod.

* * *

><p>"Where is she?" Invader asked, getting impatient. He and a horde on ceremonially dressed oni, still in tiger stripes of course, were standing opposite another group of humanoid aliens.<p>

They were the Fukunogami, the dominant race of the planet Jin. On the surface they looked just like ordinary humans, but they were a simpler race. They dressed and lived in a style rather similar to Japan's Warring States Era, in fact most of their technology was imported from off world. They were also a warrior race, but luckily they lacked any army capable of conquering other worlds.

"Why are we waiting?" One of the fukunogami asked irritably.

"Hey oni! You afraid we'll kick your asses?" The only female fukunogami present called out. She had long black hair held up in a bun on the back of her head, and wore a dark red bikini like Lum did, only made of metal and a cloth strap going up her right shoulder. She also wore a chain wrapped around her torso, for reasons that only made sense to her, and a chain in substitute for a headband.

"Keep your mouth shut city girl." One of the men next to her hissed. "Go back to your metal boxes and let the men handle this."

"Hey! I have as much right to be here as the rest of you!" She argued.

"This is a man's job. No place for a dame." One of the older attendees remarked.

The girl frowned and crossed her arms. 'I hope we get started soon.'

Fortunately that was when Lum's UFO landed and she came out. "Sorry Daddy, traffic was terrible."

"What traffic?" Ataru asked, coming out wearing some provided tiger-striped leather armor Lum got just for the occasion. For some reason this included some arm bands that completely covered up the omnitrix.

Invader seemed to buy Lum's excuse. "'Bout time dear. We were getting anxious."

"This looks like we're getting ready for war." Ataru noted, seeing both groups sporting banners like old armies and even people holding weapons. One of the fukunogami was even licking a dagger.

"This _is_ war Son-in-law." Invader stated.

"He means a substitute." Lum whispered to the earth boy, leaning in to him. "And it's actually a deterrent to war. We have these little ceremonies with our allies to sort of vent any potential frustrations that might exist between us before they can ruin things between us. Friendly competitions to sort of make us remember why we like each other."

"Ah, that's much better. So what do we do?" He asked.

"You'll catch on quickly. But I have to warn, under no circumstances can you use the omnitrix." Lum warned.

"What? Why not?" Ataru asked.

"To battle!" Invader yelled, and the two forces charged at each other. Ataru had to run with them just to avoid being trampled.

'I only have one weapon and I'm not allowed to use it?' He asked himself. 'Thanks a lot Lum.'

The two hordes merged together and ran down a marked pathway that went between two small peaks. As they ran the two groups did what they could to hinder the other, like trip and pull hair and of course use their weapons. A naginata came and hit Ataru in his cheek. He almost passed out, expecting his head to be in two pieces, but there was just a red mark on his face.

'That was a fake weapon. Why did they bring...?' He asked, then got to the other side of the peaks. There he got his answer.

There were two platforms on opposite sides much like the groups had been, with cheerleaders from both races rooting for their appropriate sides. In the center of the field were two poles with flat platforms on the top, and on those platforms were human-sized wicker baskets. Lum had managed to get herself atop one of them and the fukunogami girl in chains had managed to do the same.

"Best of luck Benten!" Lum said to the other girl happily with a wave.

The fukunogami girl grinned. "Fukunogami _are_ luck. You'll need it more than me old friend."

"Get going! Sink the basket!" Invader yelled as everyone continued to run. Up ahead was dozens of smaller baskets containing small plastic balls, colored black and white, and everyone was heading to them, fighting each other along the way.

'It's a ball toss contest?' Ataru realized. 'Well, at least there's no risk of me dying, so I might as well join in.'

Like Lum said, Ataru was quick to pick up on how this worked. The two alien groups were supposed to run to the offered baskets and throw the balls into the higher baskets, and from the looks of it each race had to go for a specific color for their basket. The onis went only for the black balls and the fukunogami went only for the white balls. And the two groups were allowed to fight each other with bare fists or approved weapons to give their team an advantage.

'Maybe that's why she said not the use the omnitrix.' Ataru thought as he scrambled past some men to get to a basket. 'It would give me an unfair advantage.' He started throwing the balls, his aim not so good at first but he was getting better. "Hey, are we supposed to fill it or make it fall?" He asked one of the oni next to him.

"Fill it and if possible make the other one fall." The oni said, picking up some dropped white balls and throwing them at Benten's basket. "That's why we have the girls hold it steady and try to keep the other side from knocking it over."

Ataru ducked and ran from an attacking opponent and went back to throwing the balls. "I wonder what the winner gets."

* * *

><p>Back on earth, a friend of his was having less fun.<p>

"You have to find your center Sakura. You can't do that if your mind wanders." Sakura stated.

"You act like it's so easy." Shinobu criticized.

"Oh I know it isn't. I was a teenager too once, and I too thought meditation was a waste of time. But trust me, once you get it right all your power will become available. Though maybe it would help if we did some work on your chakra pools."

"What's that?"

"Oh, eight points on the body where your body unleashes its spiritual energy, and in legends truly unlocking them allows a person to use the rare energy of chakra. Something that hasn't been seen on this earth in five hundred years. Not since the age of the two grand mikos." Sakura explained.

"Two grand mikos?" Sakura repeated.

"Oh yeah, it was my favorite childhood story." Sakura said with a smile. "Long ago, back during the Warring States Era, there were two very powerful and well-known mikos. The older one was called Kagome the Guardian of the Sacred Jewel. She had purification powers that astounded even professional exorcists, and she practically reinvented the role of the combat miko. The younger one was called Hinata the All-Seeing. She was said to have eyes that could see anything and everything. And a touch that could kill any man or monster because she could see exactly where to cause the most damage on them."

"I find this hard to believe." Shinobu claimed.

Sakura smiled. "There's a shrine in Tokyo that has old relics belonging to them. Even written accounts of them. According to the accounts, Kagome even tamed and wed a dog demon and Hinata did the same with a fox. But records on Hinata are scarce as she seemed to disappear off the face of the earth. In fact, both did for a time but then Kagome reappeared and settled down with her husband. Most accounts on Hinata were actually written by Kagome."

"This still sounds like just a myth to me." Shinobu said.

"I never said it was true. I even admit it's likely just a story. But I do believe the two mikos did exist at the time, and maybe some records of their abilities were exaggerated. But I have reason to believe some of their skills were in fact real." Sakura stated.

"Why is that?" Shinobu asked.

Do you understand what it is that makes a miko different than any normal person working at a shrine or church?" Sakura asked. Shinobu could only tilt her head in confusion. "It's the use of mana. The spiritual energy of humans. It's what separates us from the demons and other beings on this world or in the universe."

"Spiritual energy?" Shinobu repeated, still confused.

Sakura sat down in front of the younger girl. "Yes. You see, there are said to be roughly six kinds of energy in the world. The most basic kind is ki, the energy of the body and existing in every kind of lifeform. It's what allows them to move and be active, and most martial artists make a habit of building it up so they can reinforce their bodies. Nerima is famous for that."

"So everything has ki?" Shinobu said to clarify.

The older miko nodded. "Everything that is alive and moves. Now, each kind of intelligent life form has a second energy, and this is what makes things different. We humans have mana, the energy of the human soul. This gives us our free will and the potential to be good or evil. People who have high amounts of it tend to be high-spirited and when we learn how to use it we can cause many of the things people call magic."

Shinobu blinked. "Are you saying magic is real?"

"Sort of. What people call magic is really just the use of mana in a manifested form. To my knowledge no form of true magic exists. But miko like me who build up and utilize their mana can use it to these ends. Including the purification of demons and creating energy constructs. Like this."

Sakura held her hands apart, and between them a soft pink light began to glow. Shinobu could only watch in awe as the older woman actually created a staff out of mana alone. She even held it out, as if daring Sakura to touch it, which the girl did. "It feels solid."

"Because I know what to do with my mana. And if you learn from me, so can you." Sakura said.

Shinobu nodded. "What about the other energies?"

"The next is youki, the energy of the demon soul. This is what gave demons their own form of magic if you will. While powerful, it was usually weak to a strong source of outside mana. Hence why mikos and monks could exterminate demons when they had the strength to."

'I wonder if that's what Lum has. Then I can get strong enough to get rid of her.' Shinobu thought to herself.

"After that comes an unusual kind of energy, chakra. The energy of mana and ki put together in balance." Sakura continued. "You wouldn't think so, but it's really hard to get the spirit and body in sync with each other. Usually people tend to build up one over the other. So chakra is somewhat of a lost art here. In fact, Hinata was the last chakra master known in Japan."

"Wouldn't there be records to help others learn?" Shinobu asked.

"There are, but like I said chakra's the energy of balance. Balance is hard to do. How many people in your school are expert athletes and honor students?" Sakura asked.

Shinobu shrugged. "Honestly I don't even know if we have any honor students."

"Because people subconsciously tend to prioritize their body or the mind, one over the other. Even if they don't neglect one, they do more for the other. This creates an imbalance between the energies, thus making chakra virtually impossible to use. It's not completely impossible, just a forgotten art."

"So you can't help me in it?" Shinobu asked.

Sakura shook her head. "That's something I'm not qualified to do. So let's not worry about it. The next energy is arcana, the unknown or besital energy. This is supposedly the oldest kid of energy and is found in all animals in small amounts. It's barely understood since animals so rarely do anything with it, but some have theorized it's sort of like a missing link between mana and youki, suggesting at some time humans and demons both shared an energy then evolved separately. One thing I've heard is that occasionally there is a creature with high amounts of arcana, that gives it a sort of intelligence and even powers of its own. These are the creatures of legend that you don't really think of as demons, like the yeti or hibagon."

"A mystery energy." Shinobu summarized.

Sakura nodded. "The last one is reishi, the energy of death. It's supposedly the energy of ghosts, shinigami, and the next world. The cold chill of the dead is the presence of reishi in the air. Most people don't ever create it in their lifetime, but once every so often a few do. These people are those that can see and talk to the dead. The shamans, mediums, taoists, and even witch doctors. I think there's a group called quincies who live in Germany that use reishi too, though I don't really know anything about them."

"Reishi isn't dangerous is it?" Shinobu asked.

"No it won't kill you. It's just connected to the dead, it doesn't actually make you dead. Unless someone can use it like I do mana I suppose." Sakura corrected.

"Well that's comforting." Shinobu said sarcastically.

"Oh right, that's what quincies do." Sakura said, snapping her fingers. "But you don't have to worry about that. Quincies and shamans and the like usually live in places where reishi tends to leak out of the spiritual world the most. In Japan the place where that happens is Karakura. I hear in America there's this place called Amity Park that has even more regional reishi."

"It slips out?"

Sakura nodded. "Yeah. You know how people often say that there's a boundary between this world and the next? And it's weakest on Halloween hence why we have the holiday? Well there are small cracks in this boundary, and sometimes reishi leaks in. This of course means ghosts can too, but that's why we have shinigami around don't we?"

Sakura shifted in her position for a moment to get more comfortable. "Now, the reason I tell you all this is because if you want to learn how to use your mana and do what I can do you have to know what mana is and how it differs from other energies you may see. You have the potential Shinobu I can see it in you. You just have to stop expecting instant or easy results."

"Sorry Sensei, I just have a hard time being patient." The young girl admitted. "Plus I'm not sure if I want to make a career out of being a miko."

"I understand. Even I admit to a teenager it wouldn't sound like the most glamorous job in the world. I'm even trying to get a part time job at your school to give me something else to do and a second paycheck. And if it weren't for the lessons in mana I got, I might not have become a miko at all. So all I'll ask is you give it a try and see if it's something you want to stick with."

Shinobu nodded. "Alright Sensei."

"Good. Now, since I know you're dying for it, the first actual lesson in mana use is this." The priestess said, taking out a sheathed long dagger and holding it out to the younger girl. "This knife is rather dull. As it is it could barely cut butter. But if you can concentrate your mana into or around it, it can cut thru anything short of the hardest stones."

Shinobu took it and unsheathed it, seeing it was indeed very dull and possibly rusted. "So how do I do that?"

"Thru trial and error. The best way to learn at first."

Shinobu resisted rolling her eyes. 'Gee, way to make it sound so easy.'

* * *

><p>Back on Jin, the oni and fukunogami were still at it and both were getting close to winning. Ataru had a few bumps on his head and a black eye from several lucky hits, but he was still doing his role in the game. Lum was doing hers too, which apparently including dropping some small explosives to fend off any attempting to knock her basket off early.<p>

Then there was a loud ding sound in stereo, and from the two platforms dropped two banners saying 'Full', triggered by weight mechanisms under the baskets.

"That's it! The ball toss is over!" An oni man called out with a megaphone. "And it looks like for the first time in years we actually have a tie."

'Why do I get the feeling this doesn't mean the game's over?' Ataru pondered.

"Due to the traditional rules, in the event of a tie the victor is decided by a follow-up contest between the two basket maidens." The oni with the megaphone continued. "Will everyone please clear the area and will the two girls please descend?"

Everyone moved away from the pillars, leaving countless discarded plastic balls behind, and Lum and Benten went down to the ground.

"This should be fun Benten." Lum said with a friendly grin.

"Well at least this way I can actually do something other than be eye candy." Benten remarked.

'She dresses like a biker version of Lum and has problems with being looked at?' Ataru asked himself, not seeing how this made sense. "What happens next?" He asked the guy next to him.

"You'll see." was the response.

"Ready girls?" The megaphone guy called out. "Tiebreaker... now!"

On cue the two girls went at each other and began to wrestle, grabbing and pushing the other and resisting the opposing force. Ataru watched on with wide eyes, shocked at the sight of two scandaly clad girls actually wrestling in front of him.

'Wow, Lum walks around in broad daylight wearing a bikini, she keeps porn in her UFO, and now she does this? Damn, I scored in the girl department.' Ataru thought, allowing himself to enjoy this.

Benten quickly gained the advantage, as Lum was not allowed to use lightning or flight in this contest. Generally speaking the fukunogami always held the advantage in these fights for that reason. "Nice try Lum, but we both know who's going to win."

"If I can handle Ran I can handle you Benten." The oni replied, trying to get the advantage back.

Benten pushed on, and as a result she got Lum pinned to the ground. "How often does Ran fight like me?"

"More often than you'd think." Lum answered, surprising the fukunogami girl by getting her arms free and grabbing Benten's forearms, pulling her down and forward in a rolling fashion. Once Benten's weight was off her Lum was able to get back up and this time pin her old friend down. "Ran might prefer fighting dirty, but she has used the direct approach before."

"I'm not done yet." Benten insisted, pushing herself up and on all fours despite the extra weight. Lum surprised her by grabbing the torso chain and pulling it, making it rub against her skin and cleavage in a harsh way, forcing Benten to drop back down and wince.

Then Lum started to slap the ground. "One... two... three!"

"That's it people we have a winner!" The oni with the megaphone announced. "The winner this year is the oni! Now comes the after party!"

'Too bad Setsubun back home isn't this fun.' Ataru thought as Lum smiled at him and gave him a hug.


End file.
